


Shattered Timelines

by Sergeant_Sporks



Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons), Wizards: Tales of Arcadia
Genre: AU, Angst, Blood, Gen, Injury, Minor Violence, Moppet!Douxie, Not Canon Compliant, Sort Of, Whump, because where! is! my! morgana! and! douxie! sibling! dynamic, dark douxie, morgana is a good older sister, mostly he's just sad, no editing we fight and die like merlin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 01:53:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28948479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sergeant_Sporks/pseuds/Sergeant_Sporks
Summary: "The Order didn't need to tell us anything about humans. The humans did quite a fine job of that themselves."What if Merlin hadn't been there to save Douxie from the knights?
Comments: 36
Kudos: 78





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is probably going to be a long one, so buckle up, buckaroos.

“Ah, Merlin. I have a task for you.”

Merlin frowned, fiddling with his timeline tracker. “Now, your majesty?” There was something important going on today, a reason he should be in the market. Something—or _someone_ —was going to be there, and it was apparently important that he be there as well.

“Now,” Arthur thundered.

Merlin closed the box with a sigh. “Yes, my lord.” He might as well be done with this quickly, so he could get to the market. Maybe if he finished fast enough, he could still catch the whatever-it-was.

Because apparently the fate of the world depended on it.

Xxx

“You ready, Arch?”

Archie transformed into a tiny ball. “I hate this. It’s humiliating.”

“Well, we either play con-the-citizen, or we try to catch food ourselves.”

“ _You_ could learn some actual slight of hand. Or a disappearing spell.”

“Ah, where would the fun be in that? Plus, we don’t have a real ball to use anyway.” Douxie carried the ball to his stall and placed a cup over his partner. “It’s only temporary, Arch.” He cleared his throat. “Now then, now then! Gather around, milords and ladies!” Ooo, that voice crack. Yikes. Douxie started shifting the cups around. “Test your luck with the Lad ‘O Fortune!”

“Stupid name,” Archie hissed.

Douxie grinned at the ordinary citizens going about their day, ignoring his familiar and holding up the ball. “Now, remember, keep your eye on the prize!” No one seemed to be biting. “Find the ball to win it all! Find the ball and win it—"

A hand shot up with a gold coin. “Hey!”

A knight. Douxie felt a smile creep over his face. “Oh, hello,” he murmured. There was a bit of risk in handling a knight—magic being illegal aside, it could scare off others if a knight couldn’t find the ball. Oooooor they’d try it to prove that they could do what a knight couldn’t.

The knight pushed his way forward to the table, plunking down his gold coin. “I will give it a go!”

Douxie lifted the cup to show him the Archie-ball, then quickly put it back down. “Keep your eye on the cup!” He shuffled the cups around. Archie was honestly right, though. He _should_ learn some slight of hand, or at least be able to shuffle these cups fast enough that it was plausible you couldn’t pick the right one. He came to a halt, and the knight chuckled.

“Easy pickin’s, eh?”

Exactly what Douxie wanted to think.

The knight grabbed one of the cups. “Ha!” His eyebrows shot up when there was no ball. “Eh?!”

He reached for another one, and Douxie smacked his hand, mind racing. “Ah, ah, ah! Please, your knightliness, only one pick per play!” He flipped the coin and caught it. That would get at least tonight’s dinner.

The other cup wiggled and shifted. Uh-oh. The knight grabbed it, peering inside. No—no, no, no, no— There was a flash of gold, and to Douxie’s horror, Archie jumped out with a meow.

The knight’s eyebrows scrunched together. “Magic!” He lunged for Douxie.

Douxie skipped backwards, avoiding the heavy hands. “Gassus Flotulus!” he yelped, escaping in the magic blue fog. He crept around the corner. Looked like he’d given the knight the—

The _shing_ of metal against metal heralded swords that were now being pointed directly at him. Douxie backtracked. Nope, nope, nope—

The knight he’d conned sighed. “You may not know, but… by order of the king, use of magic has been outlawed. Under penalty of instant death!”

He japed his sword forward, and Douxie drooped. He was too young to die! Wasn’t there any kind of jailing option?! Or community service?! “Oh, fuzzbuckets,” he whimpered.

Archie yowled, and the knight yelped, and when Douxie opened his eyes, his familiar was in dragon form, clawing at the knight’s head. Douxie watched as if in slow motion as a sword from another knight cleaved through the air, hitting Archie. The familiar flew through the air and thudded to the ground, not getting up.

“NO!”

Douxie pushed past the knight towards Archie’s crumpled form. No, no, no, not Archie, he hadn’t wanted to do the con in the first place, this was all Douxie’s fault, what had he done, how could he fix this—

Douxie knelt next to Archie, scooping his only family up, tears dripping from his face. “Archie,” he choked, “Please—please don’t do this to me, please—”

The cold metal point of a sword touched the base of Douxie’s neck. He stared bleakly at the cobblestones, clutching Archie’s body. At least he’d see Archie again soon. “Any last words?”

“Smokescreen,” Archie groaned.

A spark of hope lit up in Douxie’s chest. He wasn’t dead! But if Douxie didn’t act fast, that wouldn’t mean much. What could he… Smokescreen. Smokescreen! It took a second for the thought to register.

“Yep! Last words. My last words. As in, the last words I will ever speak. Sure. Uh… how about… Gassus Flotulous!”

The knight yelped as the blue smoke erupted again, and Douxie rolled to the side, springing to his feet and making a run for it.

“GET THAT WIZARD!”

Douxie dodged through the maze of streets, cradling Archie in his arms. If he could just get out of Camelot—the trolls in the Wild Woods might not all be hostile, and there was a slightly better chance of him getting away there.

“Can’t catch what you can’t see,” he murmured, “Gassus Flotulous!” If he could keep up a steady bunch of smokescreens, then the knights wouldn’t be able to find him in all the confusion.

The gates! He was almost out!

He heard a twanging noise, and a crossbow bolt hissed past him. More followed. They’d really risk firing in a crowded area?! Whatever, they still couldn’t see him.

Douxie charged right out of the fog, and into a crossbowman. “Gassus Flotulous!” he yelped for hopefully the last time, pounding out and towards the gate, which was steadily closing. He tucked and rolled, ducking just under the portcullis.

“Magic scum!”

Something slammed into his leg, and he sprang up, adrenaline coursing through his veins. Already, the knights were calling for the portcullis to be raised. Douxie bolted across the bridge that suddenly seemed miles long. Something was dripping down his leg, and he glanced at it.

A crossbow bolt was sticking out of the side of his thigh.

“Fuzzbuckets.”

“GET HIM!”

Another surge of adrenaline took over, and Douxie forgot about the bolt, running as fast as he could for the cover of the wild woods. Archie wheezed in a final sort of way, and Douxie ran faster. He had to get somewhere he could take care of the familiar!

Metal-clad hands grasped at his tunic, but Douxie pulled away, ducking into the treeline. “Gassus,” he panted, “Gassus—flotulus!”

He limped away in the smoke, collapsing behind a tree. The adrenaline faded slowly, and a dull ache spread from his leg, throbbing. Douxie whimpered, leaning his back against the tree and biting on a stick to keep himself from making any noise.

The rustling of the knights faded, and Douxie peeled himself off of the tree, blinking spots out of his vision. “A-Arch?”

His familiar groaned. “Did we… did we lose them?”

Douxie’s head spun, but he blinked hard, forcing himself to focus. “Urgh—yeah. I think so.” He set his familiar down. “Let’s get you… fixed…”

Another dizzy spell swept over him, and he slumped. “Fuzzbuckets—I need to find you a… a doctor… or something… stop the—the bleeding, at least.” He examined the massive gash in the familiar’s side, and he fumblingly ripped off one of his sleeves, tearing it into bandages and slowly wrapping it around Archie’s wound.

“Th-thanks,” Douxie managed, “For—for saving me.”

Archie managed a breathless chuckle. “Not much good, huh?”

Douxie gently picked Archie up, wincing at his hiss of pain. He wobbled up to his feet, leaning against the tree, his leg screaming in pain.

Spots danced in front of his vision. “Hngh—" He stumbled a few steps forward, then fell, managing to twist so that he didn’t land on Archie. He cried out as the arrow was pushed further into his leg, making everything blur and go spotty. Archie rolled away.

Douxie lay there, waiting for the spots to fade from his vision and the pain to die down. He managed to drag himself back to the tree and prop himself back up. Archie limped over, staggering from side to side.

“We’re… in a pretty sorry shape, aren’t we?” Douxie panted, clutching his leg. His vision blurred in and out of focus.

“Chhhhyeah,” Archie responded, collapsing next to him.

Whatever he said next was lost, as Douxie’s vision went completely black.

Xxx

Merlin stepped over a dropped crossbow delicately. “What exactly happened here?” Magic lingered in the air. Whatever the event in the marketplace had been, apparently he’d missed it.

“Magic practitioner and some shapeshifting cat,” Galahad growled, “Bugger got away.”

One eyebrow rose. “Oh?”

“It escaped into the Wild Woods. Probably a changeling.”

Merlin frowned, his eyes narrowing. A threat? Maybe he’d been supposed to kill this changeling before it could get to Arthur. “The Wild Woods?”

“It probably won’t get far. One of the men got it with a crossbow.”

“Hm. Indeed.” Merlin swept back to the palace. Morgana was waiting for him.

“Your timeline box is broken.”

A thrill of panic and anger swept through Merlin. “What?!”

“It keeps buzzing and shaking. I think there’s something wrong with it.”

Merlin exhaled a deep sigh of relief. “Thank you, Morgana,” he replied, shutting the door to his apartments. He opened the timeline box, and was greeted with flames and ice, all an alarming shade of red. “What the…”

Xxx

 _“What is a fleshbag doing this deep in the forest_?”

 _“And a cat… no…_ a dragon!”

“A dragon?!”

Something grabbed Douxie’s wrist and yanked him up. Douxie’s eyes opened just a bit. His throat was screaming for water, and his head was pounding, but he blinked at what was holding him.

A giant stone eye glared back, the other eye lost in a scar. Douxie’s brain was fogged over from pain, but he knew about this troll.

“Gnmr,” he slurred.

The troll tossed him to the ground, and the world spun. The forest floor was cold and damp, and Douxie felt like he could just sink into it. “Just a human, crossing our boundaries. Kill it.”

Douxie heard a hiss from Archie, and the shapeshifter drunkenly flapped over, landing on Douxie’s back. “No,” the dragon said weakly, sinking his claws into Douxie’s tunic, but without hurting him. “Don’t hurt him!”

“It’s just a human.”

“He’s a wizard!” Archie protested desperately, “He’s magic, too!”

Gunmar reached over and plucked Archie off of Douxie like he was nothing. “Scrawny. But a dragon… Take them both. We’ll decide what to do with the _wizard_ later.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Douxie? Are you just sleeping? Please wake up.”

Douxie groaned. His leg was screaming—it felt all hot now, and he was dizzy, the world spinning every time he tried to open his eyes.

“Douxie… please open your eyes…”

His eyelids felt like they were stuck together, but Douxie managed to open them, blinking blearily at his blurry surroundings. A—a cave? “Ar-chie?” he whispered, his throat cracked and dry.

His familiar nudged him with his head. “Douxie!”

Douxie pushed himself up into a sitting position, leaning against the wall. He closed his eyes again, willing the dizziness to go away. “You’re… feeling better?”

“Bit woozy, but otherwise fine. The Gum-Gums fixed me up.” Archie sighed. “Can’t say they did the same for you.”

Douxie’s hand went to his leg, and he hissed out as he touched the area around the protruding arrow. “Ow…”

Archie gave the arrow a concerned look. “We need to take care of that.” He approached slowly. “This is going to hurt,” he warned, then grabbed the arrow in his jaws, putting his paws against Douxie’s leg and pulling.

Douxie screamed, lashing out and accidentally hitting the cat. “Sorry—I’m sorry, Arch, I didn’t mean to—” he groaned, clutching at his leg.

Archie rolled back up to his feet. “No harm done. One more try?”

Douxie nodded, putting his fist in his mouth. “Go,” he muttered around it.

Archie pulled again, and Douxie bit down, hard enough to draw blood. His free hand clawed at the ground. A strangled whine escaped him, involuntary tears of pain rolling down his face.

“Got it! Hold still.” Archie shifted into his dragon form. “It’s bleeding a lot…”

Douxie closed his eyes. “Do it,” he groaned.

Through his closed eyelids, Douxie could see the flash of fire, and then felt the searing heat on his leg. He must have blacked out, because when he woke up again, he was on the ground again.

“You ought to cover it up,” Archie said gently, “Don’t want it getting infected.”

“Just… a minute.”

Archie rolled the crossbow bolt around on the floor. “ _Monsters_ ,” he hissed.

“Huh?”

Archie bared his teeth. “It’s a barbed tip. It did more damage coming out than it did going in.”

Douxie leaned against the wall, dazing off already. “Fantastic. I suppose…. it’s… it’s poisoned as well? Or… or cursed, that’d—that’d be great.”

Heavy footsteps tramped towards them, and Archie put himself between Douxie and the cave entrance, flaring his wings out and baring his teeth at whatever was going to come through. Douxie started a spell, but a wave of dizzy exhaustion swept over him, and it died.

“Shapeshifter.”

Douxie blinked, struggling to make sense of the blurry troll in front of him.

“Bular,” Archie responded in a barely-civil voice, “I don’t suppose you’re here to let us go?”

“Let you go? We’re protecting you, dragon, from the humans that attacked you. We healed you as a sign of our good will.”

“You didn’t heal my familiar,” Archie said coldly, “So forgive me if I’m not entirely certain of your _good will_.”

“Ah. Your familiar. A _human_.”

“Touch one hair on his head,” Archie threatened evenly, “and I will burn you to a cinder.”

“It’s half-dead anyway,” Bular replied dismissively, “I’d be putting it out of its misery. And protecting all of us.”

Archie hissed loudly. “Cinder,” he reiterated, “Douxie’s a wizard—he’s as much magic as you or I. If you’re really so concerned with helping magical beings, I’d expect the same for him.”

“It’s a _human_ ,” Bular growled, taking a step forward.

Douxie tried one more time for a spell. If they could just get away… “G-gass-gassus—”

Archie’s eyes widened, and he bolted back towards Douxie. “No! Don’t—”

“Gassus Flotulus!”

The smokescreen succeeded, but Douxie was too drained to take advantage of it. He slumped sideways, his vision flickering in and out.

Bular roared, waving the smoke away. “It’s trying to attack!”

“NO!” Archie yelled, diving towards the troll. “He’s confused! Don’t hurt him!”

Whatever he said next, Douxie didn’t hear. The next thing he knew, Bular was dragging him along the ground by his wrist. “A-Archie?!” Douxie struggled to break away. “Archie—”

The familiar swooped towards him. “Douxie, listen, we’re going to have to separate—”

“No—” Douxie reached for the familiar, but Bular tugged him away. “Archie, no—”

“It was the only way they’d let you live, Douxie, I’m sorry—”

A Gum-Gum with a green mane got between them. “Don’t need to talk,” he grunted.

Douxie struggled to his feet, limping along and trying to get away from Bular’s iron grip. “ARCHIE!”

Bular whipped him around into a wall, and Douxie crumpled to the ground, head spinning.

“You promised you wouldn’t hurt him if I joined you!” he heard Archie yelling angrily.

 _No_ , Douxie thought sluggishly as his familiar got further and further away.

Bular threw him out of the caves and into the woods, sending him sprawling. Douxie scrambled back to his feet, lunging for the closing entrance. “NO!” He banged one fist against the solid rock door. “No! You have to let me back in! Don’t—don’t take him! Give him back! Please, Archie! A-Archie…” Douxie huddled against the wall, sobbing. “Archie…” He’d already almost lost him just today, he couldn’t… he couldn’t lose him. He hit the wall again, bruising his hand, but he didn’t care. “G-give him b-back! G-give…”

Douxie lost track of time, sitting outside, waiting for something, anything, maybe just hoping that this nightmare would end. It was so cold… His stomach growled, as if it had forgotten that it was hungry until now. Douxie curled up, shivering. He was just… so tired…

Shouts woke him up, and Douxie blinked in confusion. There were Gum-Gums and knights everywhere, clashing and attacking each other. And the door! It was open! Douxie struggled up to his feet, limping towards the caves. “Archie?!” he called in all of the clanging, shouting chaos, dodging knights and trolls, “Archie, where are you?!”

The green-maned Gum-Gum lumbered towards him, and Douxie stumbled back, trying to get out of the way, but his injured leg buckled, and the Gum-Gum slammed into him, sending him flying.

When Douxie came to, everything was quiet. The fight that had just been raging what seemed like seconds ago was over and gone. He staggered up, every muscle screaming and aching.

“Hngh—” he leaned against the wall to brace himself, limping through the caves. “H-hello?”

A clang caught his attention, and he half-whirled, half-stumbled around to see a group of knights.

“It’s the wizard from the marketplace!” one of them shouted, and they all rushed towards Douxie.

Douxie’s vision blurred blue, and then half the knights were sprawled on the ground. He made a run for it, stumbling through the trees, every step a burst of pain from his leg. Shouts echoed from behind him—the knights hadn’t taken long to recover, and they’d catch him soon. He kept looking behind, and didn’t notice the steep bank of a river until it was too late. His foot hit a crumbling patch of dirt and he half-fell, half-slid into the icy water. The shock of the cold made him gasp, and he inhaled a mouthful of water.

Douxie managed to surface, gasping for air and spluttering as the current dragged him along.

“There he is!”

Crossbow bolts whirred past his head. Douxie ducked back underwater, this time after getting a full breath of air. He stayed under as long as he could, until his lungs started to scream for air, and then he kicked—the cold of the river had numbed his leg—his way back up to the surface. A crossbow bolt barely missed him—the knights were following along the banks of the river, laughing and cheering each other.

“C’mon, five gold coins if you manage to hit it!”

Douxie gasped in another breath and then the river dragged him back under. Claw back to the surface. Breathe. Pray the knights didn’t hit him. Get dragged back under. Repeat.

Douxie heard a whooshing noise, and then got slammed into a rock, knocking the breath out of him. The river had widened into a huge lake, a danger zone of rocks. There was an island, too, out in the middle.

Douxie slammed into another rock, but this time, he twisted and grabbed onto it, his numb fingers barely holding on. He gasped in air, shaking like a leaf. He needed to get to land—maybe that island. He could see flickering torches—the knights. Were they really going to keep chasing him out here?!

Douxie lost his grip on the rock and fell back in the water. The current had died down, at least enough that it wasn’t dragging him around, so he swam to the next rock, teeth chattering.

“Need—need to get out—” he stammered, “Gonna f-freeze…”

He fell again, and this time, he was too exhausted to try and swim. The gentle waves pushed him, but didn’t pull him under, and then he felt something under him. Rock? Douxie staggered up. The current had taken him to the island. He splashed his way out onto solid ground, shivering so hard that water was flung off of him in all directions.

The torches were on the water now, and Douxie moved further inland, rubbing his arms. The crunch of wood on rock alerted him. The knights had made it. Douxie stumbled forward, tears of stress and exhaustion rolling down his cheeks and joining the lake water. He found two big stone faces, and a cry of despair tore out of his throat. A dead end. Literally would be _dead_ for him.

Douxie collapsed against the stone faces, shivering. This was it. This was where he died.

“A-Archie,” he whimpered, curling up. He heard shouts from the knights, and he closed his eyes, letting darkness wash over him. They never should have done that trick in the marketplace—if he’d just learned some sleight of hand, he and Archie would still be together, not separated with knights hunting him down. His familiar would never know…

“I mean, he _is_ a wizard.”

“Master wizards only, though!”

“How do we know that he’s _not_ a master wizard, hm?”

“He doesn’t have a staff, you dolt!”

“Maybe he dropped it in the lake.”

The shouts were getting closer, and Douxie’s mind went numb. Hopefully they’d make it quick.

“He’s bleeding. Gross. Wait, if he dies here, who knows how long before anyone finds him? I mean, knights aren’t exactly the brightest—they might not notice, and I’m certainly not going to talk to the trigger-happy idiots! We could have his corpse leaning on us forever!”

“Ack, you’re right! Well, if he dies inside, she’ll probably eat him.”

“Mm. True. Letting him in, then?”

“Sure thing.”

The stone Douxie was leaning against suddenly disappeared, and he rolled backwards. He lay there, stunned, dripping wet, and freezing. His leg wound must have re-opened in all the running and swimming, because warm blood mixed with the freezing water.

Douxie felt a tug in his chest, like something was pulling him further into the cave. Something magical. He pushed himself up with wobbly arms. “A-Arch-?”

His wounded leg gave out on him and he fell, tumbling down a slope and onto a wooden raft that rocked and swayed. He slumped against the wood, half-delirious with pain and despair. Something was glowing, but Douxie didn’t have the energy to sit up and see what it was.

A raspy, mysterious voice spoke out of the glowing thing. “I am the Lady, Nimue, Eldest of Oracles. What is that which you seek?”

Tears rolled down his face. He didn’t know where he was, he didn’t know or care who Nimue was, or what she wanted. Or why she even cared what he wanted. What was he seeking? “Archie,” he sobbed. He wanted his familiar—wanted him so badly it hurt in a way that the crossbow bolts never could.

Something cool and wet brushed the bangs out of his face. “You… did not come here seeking my aid,” the voice said, sounding more surprised than anything else. “Your finding me was an accident. A farce of fate. You stand worthy of my gifts, and yet want nothing. All you long for is… a lost friend.”

The water around the raft surged, and a mass of tentacles arose, along with a giant eye. One of the tentacles gently touched the arrow wound, light enough that Douxie barely even felt it.

“Poor little thing,” Nimue sighed, “You are trapped here as much as I… magic can be strange, can’t it? Rest now, little wizard. You will be safe here with me.”

 _Safe_.

But she was… trapped here? “You sh-shouldn’t be locked up. No one should—should have to live in a cage.”

Nimue sighed. “Such is the world we live in.”

Douxie heard a grinding, rumbling noise and Nimue swept him up, hiding him behind her. “Oh, I hope it’s Merlin,” she hissed, “We’ll see if he can trick me again.”

“You can’t hide, monster!” someone called, “Where’s your wizard friend, huh?”

Nimue screamed her rage and lashed out with one of her tentacles, hitting a knight. “Begone! Is it not enough for your king that I have been locked away?! You come now to desecrate my magic further?!”

Douxie heard shouts from the knights, and then Nimue howled in pain. He looked around for a way out, but there wasn’t anything—at least, not any way that he could get Nimue out, too. He pointed one hand at the wall. He didn’t know too much magic, it being forbidden and all, but he’d saved a musty old book, once, and… he’d never tried this spell, but what choice did he have?

Douxie struggled up to his feet, waving his arms. “H-hey! Leave her alone!”

“The wizard!”

Douxie whirled around and faced the wall again. “Tenebris exilium!” he yelled.

A beam of magic shot out of his hand, cracking the wall. He swayed at the energy drain, then fell off of the rock shelf Nimue had put him on. One of her tentacles grabbed him, and she slammed into the weakened wall, splashing out into the open lake.

Nimue swam fast, setting him down on the shores of the lake. “I cannot help you find your friend, little wizard,” she said sadly, “Nor can I come with you on the land. But I will never forget this debt. I may not know where your friend is, but I can leave you with some advice. By now I think you have found that some magical creatures are not any better than the humans that we fight.”

Douxie thought of Bular and Gunmar and nodded.

“You must beware of one in particular—a wizard named Merlin Ambrosius. He sides with the humans and thinks only of himself. He will use you until he thinks he can get nothing else from you, then will cast you aside like waste. He is the one who locked me away in the first place, after I gifted him Excalibur. A gift that is now being used to hunt the magic out of this world.” Nimue brushed his face with one tentacle. “Be careful, young one. Very rarely in my life have I found a kind heart. It would be a travesty if the world lost yours.”

She disappeared back into the lake, and Douxie turned back towards the wild woods, squaring his shoulders. No more wallowing in self-pity—his familiar needed him.

He was going to rescue Archie, and no troll was going to stop him.


	3. Chapter 3

Merlin shook the time map, frustrated enough to consider throwing the delicate instrument against the wall. “Argh! What! Is! Wrong! With! You?!”

Morgana peered in the door. “Problems?”

Merlin opened the map, glaring at the red. “World-ending ones, apparently.”

Morgana stared up at the fire and ice in horror. “By the seven rings, what have you done?”

“Nothing, and that’s the problem! Apparently, I missed some opportunity, and now the world’s been thrown into chaos!”

Morgana frowned at the map. “Wait, what’s that? In the middle of the fire and ice?”

Merlin squinted, trying to make out what she was looking at. “What? I don’t see anything.”

Morgana stared at something that apparently only she could see. “At the center of your apocalypse is… a person.”

Xxx

Douxie sat down with a hiss, massaging his leg. Hopefully he’d be able to get back up again. But for now… he needed a break. He leaned against a tree, head woozy.

“Blood loss,” he panted, “Reminder; never do that again.” He glanced down at his wound. He’d wrapped it up, but it still hurt to walk on, and he wasn’t entirely certain it had ever stopped bleeding.

“Okay, okay, okay,” he hissed, “You can do it.” He started to unwrap the bandage to check on the wound, but his fingers hit something wet and sticky, and he wrapped his leg back up as fast as he could. “Aaaaaand nope. No, no, nopity-nope.” He’d just have to hope that the wound wasn’t getting infected, because he didn’t think he could look at it. He managed to haul himself off of the ground. Time to get moving. His leg shook, and he looked around for something to keep him upright. There, a nice, long, mostly-straight stick. Douxie picked it up, leaning on it heavily.

“Right, this is… fantastic. Wonderful. Love it.”

He heard a rustling sound, and he whirled around clumsily, falling down with an _oof_. He clutched his stick, pointing it every direction. “Who’s that?!”

A small girl edged out of the bushes, staring at him, wide-eyed. She shuffled closer, holding out a piece of paper. “Is—is this you?” she squeaked.

Douxie took the piece of paper. It was, in fact, a wanted poster of him, labelling him a wizard. “Oh, _come on_ ,” he muttered. The artist had… taken a few liberties. The sketch portrayed him with a mouthful of sharp teeth and a forked tongue, like he was some kind of demon.

“ _Is_ it you?” the little girl asked breathlessly

Douxie held the poster up next to him, opening his mouth. “Nope, can’t be me, see?” he replied, “Normal teeth and tongue.”

The little girl flounced closer. “Oh, good.” She took the wanted poster back. “This one is… scary.”

“Maybe he just _looks_ scary,” Douxie offered with a grin, “Maybe he’s a really nice guy.”

The little girl shook her head. “If he were, then he wouldn’t be running from the knights. They’re the good guys!”

Cute. “Hm. Alright, if you really think so. What’s your name?”

The little girl plopped down next to him. “Treya.”

“Douxie.”

“That’s a funny name.”

Douxie made a face at her. “I happen to like it. Hey, what do you think this guy did wrong?”

“He’s a bad guy,” Treya said simply.

“Yeah, but _why_?”

Treya frowned at the poster. “I don’t know. What’s a—a wizard?”

“Someone who does magic.”

“Oh.” Treya’s frown got deeper. “Is that bad? Doing magic?”

“What? No! Magic is, it’s…” Douxie waved a hand, and a glowing blue light appeared. Treya gasped, reaching up to touch it. “Magic is… emotion. It’s beautiful, and strange. Someone can do something bad with it. Or they can do something good with it.”

Treya squinted at him. “So… so you’re a wizard?”

“Yyyep.”

Treya looked back at her poster. “So… this _is_ you?”

“Teeth, remember?”

“Oh, right.”

Douxie nudged her shoulder. “What are you doing out here, anyway?”

Treya brightened. “Oh! I want to find a gnome! My brother told me that if you can catch one, they bring good luck!”

Douxie blanched. “Um. That’s… not really right. So you came to the wild woods?”

“Yes?”

Douxie hissed, struggling to his feet. “It’s not safe here. Come on, I’ll help you get home.”

Treya bounced up. “But _you_ live here, don’t you?”

Douxie held out one hand. “What? No, I don’t live here, I’m looking for someone.”

Treya slipped her hand into his. “Are they a gnome?”

Douxie started hobbling towards the borders of the forest, Treya skipping alongside him. “No. He’s a friend. My cat.”

“Ooooo, a cat! That’s nice, I’ll help you find him!”

“No!” Douxie stopped, taking Treya’s shoulders. “It’s not safe for you to be in these woods, Treya. I have magic. You’re just a kid with no defenses.”

“I have you!”

Douxie chuckled dryly. “Yeah, that doesn’t count for much.”

Treya didn’t stop talking, a torrent of questions pouring out of her like a river. “So, where do you live?”

“Nowhere.”

“Where’d you find your cat?”

“He found me.”

“How’d you lose him?”

“He got kidnapped.”

“Hey, why do you limp? What happened to your leg right here?”

Treya’s small hand pushed on Douxie’s leg, and he staggered, dropping down to one knee with a cry of pain that rang out through the trees.

“Sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry!” Small hands took his face, and Treya’s big brown eyes stared into his. “I’m sorry, are you okay? Did I hurt you?”

“Yeah, kinda,” Douxie hissed out, struggling to his feet.

Treya wrapped her tiny arms around his waist. “Sorry!”

“’s okay,” he gasped, still blinking spots out of his vision.

“What happened to your leg?”

“I got shot,” he pushed out through gritted teeth, massaging his leg gently.

“That’s horrible! Why would anyone shoot you? You’re so nice!” Treya put her hand on his. “ _I_ would never shoot you.”

Xxx

Merlin sighed, popping his back as he walked away from the amulet. Not quite there. There was still something _missing_.

A flash of blue caught his eye, and he turned back to see the timeline map. The red had flipped back to blue, no longer with everything on fire. A figure was there, a human one, and Merlin squinted at it. Was it the person that Morgana had seen in the fire and ice? The map flickered back to red with the fire and ice again, before flipping back to blue. Then back to red, back to blue. Something had happened, something that didn’t involve him at all. What had changed?

Xxx

Douxie gave Treya a smile. “That’s nice of you.” He heard hoofbeats, and his eyes widened. “Hide!” He pulled Treya towards some brush.

“But why?” she protested, “The knights are the good guys!”

Douxie pushed her into the bushes and was about to follow suit when the horses came into view, knights in their shiny armor. He straightened up, leaning heavily on his stick. The horses encircled him, blocking him off from Treya.

“What are you doing in these woods?” one of the knights demanded, “No good ever comes of them!”

Douxie gave the knight a half grin. “Sightseeing.”

The knight frowned at him. “Wait a minute… WIZARD!” he shouted, struggling to dismount and draw his sword all at the same time. Douxie tried to make a run for a gap in the horses, but one of the knights urged his horse forward, and Douxie ran into it, bouncing off onto the ground.

“Oof!”

The first knight managed to get off of his horse, his sword at the ready. “You’re the wizard that escaped in the marketplace, aren’t you?”

Douxie bit his lip, not answering. The knight kicked him in the leg, and he screamed, his vision going spotty from pain.

“Answer me!”

“N-no,” Douxie gasped, “I’m—I’m not—”

The knight kicked him again, and the world tilted, lost in the pain.

Douxie heard a clang on metal, and he lifted his head to see Treya, hitting the knight with a stick. “N-no,” he whispered.

“Go away!” Treya screamed, “Leave him alone!” She hit the knight with the stick again. “You’re supposed to be the good guys!”

Douxie tried to push himself up, but the knight put one foot on his back, pinning him to the ground. “What’s this, now? Your little spy?”

“N-no,” Douxie gasped, “I just met her—she barely knows me, don’t hurt her, please!”

The knight held one hand out to Treya. “Come here, little one.”

She brandished the stick. “Get off of him!” she ordered, “And my name is Treya!”

The knight crouched down to her level, shoving Douxie’s head to the ground with his hand. “Do you know who this is?”

Treya put her hands on her hips. “His name is Douxie, and he’s my friend!”

The knight dragged Douxie up by the hair. Douxie winced, prying at his fingers to no avail. “He’s a dangerous criminal, little one. He attacked knights like me with his magic.”

“You attacked me first!” Douxie protested, and the knight gave his head a shake.

“B-but he’s r-really nice!” Treya stammered, “He was helping me get home! And he’s just looking for his cat!”

The knight blinked, like he wasn’t entirely sure what to make of that. “Um, okay? Sweetheart, magic is dangerous, and we have to stamp it out. I know sometimes it acts like it can be nice, but it will _always_ turn against you.”

“That’s not true!” Douxie yelled, anger rising in the pit of his stomach, “You turned on magic first!”

The knight pushed his head back into the dirt. “So, sweetie, we’re just going to take care of this nasty wizard, okay, and then we’ll take you home. I’m sure you’re very scared—”

“I’m not scared! I’m mad!”

“Of course you’re not scared.”

“Wh-what do you mean, ‘take care of him?’” Treya asked, voice trembling, “Are you going to fix his leg?”

The knight hesitated. “Well—when we’re done, his leg won’t hurt anymore.”

“They’re going to kill me,” Douxie said flatly, his voice muffled by the earth.

“It’s for the best, little one,” the knight said gently.

There was a _thunk_ , and the pressure from the knight fell away, with a cry of pain from the knight and shouts from his men.

Douxie struggled up. Treya was clutching her stick, and the knight was clutching his eye. The other knights were regrouping, so Douxie grabbed Treya’s hand, squeezing through the gap in the horses and limping away as fast as he could. He glanced behind him. The knights would be after them. He took Treya by the shoulders. “Treya, you need to run. Run as far away as you can. Go back home.”

“What about you?”

Douxie gave her a half grin. “I’m just slowing you down. I’ll be alright, but I’ll feel better knowing that you got away. If I’m going to do any big magic, I don’t want you to get caught up in it.”

Treya’s lip trembled. “Is it true? That you attacked knights?”

Douxie sighed. “They… they hurt a good friend of mine. And were threatening to hurt me, too. So yes, I suppose I attacked them just a little bit.”

Treya jutted her chin out. “Good,” she said staunchly, “I think knights are the bad guys.” She gave Douxie a hug. “Be careful!”

Treya darted away into the trees, and Douxie limped the opposite way, breathing heavily. He stopped, leaning on a tree, and hoofbeats echoed behind him. Douxie pointed the palm of his hand at the knight, shooting a small blast of magic that knocked him off of his horse. The kickback made him trip backwards, but he rolled to his feet.

“Okay,” he panted, “Okay, okay… We’ve got this.”

If only he knew how to turn himself invisible, or something _useful_. Douxie kept moving his breath coming in fast pants. He stumbled and fell, and this time, he didn’t get up, his injured leg throbbing and screaming.

“Douxie!”

Douxie’s heart sank as Treya ran towards him. “What are you doing?! Go away!”

“You need help!” she said staunchly, pulling his arm around her little shoulders and trying to pull him up.”

“L-look, just… go home, Treya.”

The knights were shouting, all of them pointing crossbows at them. Douxie waved his arms. “WAIT! Treya’s in the way, don’t—”

The crossbows went off, and Douxie grabbed Treya, ducking behind a tree. Crossbow bolts whizzed around them, and Douxie clutched Treya tight.

“You need to get out of here,” he told her, “I’ll distract them, you run the other way, okay? For real this time, go home, don’t look back.”

She gave a fierce nod, and Douxie ducked out from behind the tree. “HEY!” he yelled, “You could have hit her!”

The lead knight, the one who’d kicked him and pinned him to the ground, shrugged, raising his crossbow. “Frankly, I don’t really care.”

A glimmer of motion caught Douxie’s eye as Treya ran the opposite way. The knight jerked, reflexively pointing and shooting at the thing in motion.

“NO!” Douxie screamed as the bolt tore through the air, thudding into the little girl’s chest. His vision went blue, and the knights all went flying backwards. He flew—somehow, he was flying, but it felt natural, even though he’d never learned, but he didn’t have time to think about that because he was focused solely on the little girl that was crumpled on the ground. He swooped in, scooping her up and flying through the trees at an alarming speed, ignoring the branches that hit his face.

Somehow, some way, he knew where to go. He hadn’t known Treya before today, but he still felt absolutely sure that he was flying in the right direction towards a small farmhouse. He skidded in for a landing, not even noticing whether or not his leg hurt. Douxie banged on the door, tears running down his face.

“Hey! Someone! Anyone!”

The door opened, and a woman screamed, taking Treya and crying.

“My baby!” she moaned, “Treya… Treya, baby, wake up…”

A boy around Douxie’s age pushed him, and Douxie fell to his knees, the adrenaline and magic surge fading. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SISTER, YOU FREAK?!”

Douxie shook his head, his voice dying in his throat. “I…” he murmured bleakly. He ran a hand through his hair, then stopped, staring at his hands. There was blood on his hands—so much blood.

The boy grabbed Douxie’s tunic collar, yanking him up. “YOU KILLED HER,” he scream-sobbed, “YOU KILLED MY BABY SISTER!”

Douxie stared blankly at the ground. “No, I…” he protested weakly, “It was… I tried to send her away, I… she came back, and…”

“ _Freak_ ,” the boy spat, shoving Douxie backwards. “Get out of here, you _monster_!”

Douxie took a hesitant step forward. “I…”

“YOU’RE THE REASON SHE’S DEAD! YOU AND YOUR MAGIC!”

Douxie looked at his hands again, horror rising up in his stomach. There was so much blood—Treya’s blood, staining his hands, staining his tunic. He stumbled back with a cry, shaking his head, still staring at his hands in horror. He looked up at the crying mother holding her child and the angry brother, turning and half-running, half-staggering away, mind numb and the only feeling the stabs of pain from his leg. He ran right back into the woods, chest heaving. He tripped and collapsed, curling up with his back against a tree.

He crawled towards a stream, dunking his hands in the stream and scrubbing frantically at them, watching the red swirl away in the water. He cupped water in his hands, staring at it and his wobbly reflection. What stared back didn’t look human—dark bruises from hitting the trees mottled his face, and blood was smeared on his face. Douxie let the water seep through his fingers, scrambling backwards until his back hit a tree, hyperventilating, his leg throbbing and aching.

_You’re the reason she’s dead._

_Freak._

_Monster._

_Killed her, killed her, killed her_ —

Douxie buried his head in his knees, hands over his ears, but he couldn’t block out the voice.

 _Monster_.

Xxx

Merlin frowned as the timelines went a solid red, waiting for the map to flicker back to blue like it had been doing for the past hour. It flickered briefly, then stayed red and apocalyptic, and panic set in.

“No, no, no, no, go back,” he ordered, “What happened? What changed?! It was getting better, blast it, what happened?!” He frowned at the timelines. Who was doing this?

Who had the entire fate of the world resting on their shoulders?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes, it's been a while, sorry about that, I got distracted.


	4. Chapter 4

Douxie was dizzy, dizzy, dizzy. His wound felt hot and swollen, and if his stomach wasn’t completely empty, he’d have thrown up. He’d stopped feeling hungry a while ago, but everything was shaky, and he couldn’t go very far without needing a break. He leaned against a tree. Just… a quick rest. And then… then he’d find Archie. He was going to rescue his familiar. He…

When Douxie woke up, his throat cracked and dry and his head heavy, the sun had sunk all the way in the sky, the trees casting long, eerie shadows on the forest floor. He didn’t have the energy to move—if he even wanted to move.

 _Freak_.

Douxie closed his eyes, but all he saw was Treya’s lifeless body. He rubbed his eyes. He couldn’t just sit here.

Douxie wobbled to his feet, propped up by his stick. “Need to… to find…”

He hobbled through the trees slowly, agonizingly slowly. If he could just find Archie, everything would be better. Everything would just… fix.

Another wave of dizziness swept over him, and he fell again. Douxie reached with fumbling fingers for the bandage, steeling himself and unwrapping it. A smell like rotten fish emanated from it, and he gagged, psyching himself up to look.

When he did, he immediately dry-heaved, squeezing his eyes shut. The skin around the wound was swollen and red, yellow pus oozing out of it, the wound itself an ugly blackish color. Douxie gagged again, covering the wound back up and curling into a feverish ball. A wave of despair washed over him. He wasn’t going to be able to save Archie. He couldn’t even save himself, or one little girl. He might as well just lie here and let the forest take him.

Douxie’s dreams were fevered and wild. He was growing roots and sinking into the ground, he was flying high above, he was standing on a stage, playing some kind of odd lute, he was deep underwater, a fish tail instead of legs, he was working as a servant in a restaurant, he was a bolt of lightning streaking through the sky, he was falling through the sky, something exploding above him.

“Hang in there, Douxie.”

There was a tearing, horrible sensation in Douxie’s leg, and he screamed, falling back into dreams.

He was huge, walking through the forest on giant legs. He was in a study, choosing a bright blue stone.

Something cool touched his forehead. Douxie whimpered. Everything ached and hurt, and he just wanted to melt away.

“Please stick with me,” a familiar voice begged, “You’re going to be okay, just…”

He was a gust of wind, whipping around. He was unlocking a book store with a burst of magic.

Douxie groaned, his head heavy and his eyelids stuck shut.

“Douxie?” someone said quietly, voice wavering, “Douxie, please…”

“Ar-chie?” Douxie croaked, his eyes fluttering open.

His familiar came into focus, leaping on top of him. “You’re awake! Oh, thank the stars!”

Douxie clumsily patted his familiar’s head. “You got away…”

Archie shuffled around. “Well, the Gum-Gum prince and I had a bit of a disagreement. See, he seems to believe that humans are quite delicious, and the one bite I got attacking those knights made me think just the opposite. So I left.”

Douxie clutched his familiar close to him. “I missed you so much,” he choked.

Archie purred. “And I you. Although, by my count, it’s only really been about a week.”

“A week to long. What happened?”

Archie shrugged. “Well, I heard from a troll that heard from a goblin that heard from… a lake monster? I think? That you were wandering around the wild woods, so I came looking for you. And you were… not doing so well. And, uh…”

Douxie sat up, bracing himself and looking at his wound. It was bigger, laced with angry red claw marks.

“I might have clawed out the infected part,” Archie said in a small voice, “I’m sorry, Douxie, but I wasn’t sure what else to do.”

Douxie winced, tearing off the bottom of his tunic and wrapping it around the wound. “B-better than infection, I guess.” He lay back down, head spinning. “Oh, boy.”

“You lost a lot of blood,” Archie said in that same small voice.

“That’s… kind of becoming a regular occurrence,” Douxie chuckled dryly.

Archie shifted uncomfortably as far-off footsteps crunched through the trees. “I’m going to go check on that,” he declared, “I’ll be back in a moment, okay?”

He shifted into a dragon, flapping away. Everything was quiet for a few moments, and then Douxie heard just the slightest tap on a tree root. He struggled into a sitting position, scooting backwards until his back hit a tree. “Who’s there?!” he asked weakly, blinking spots out of his eyes.

A small face peeked out from behind a tree, a set of luminous golden eyes blinking at him. Douxie blinked.

“I’m dreaming, right?” he murmured.

A girl with antlers cautiously moved towards him on all fours. “Poor little wizard,” she said softly, her voice echo-y, “you are in so much pain…” she held out one hand, which glowed slightly. “The humans have hurt you. They drove you out. Hunted you down. Killed your friend.”

Tears sprang into Douxie’s eyes. How did she know all of that?

“You have suffered more than you ever should have… I can feel it, in your soul.” The plant girl edged closer. “You are injured.” She held out one glowing hand.

There was a hiss, and Archie dropped down in front of Douxie, back arched. “Stay away from him,” he spat, the fur on his back standing straight up.

The plant girl stopped in place. “Do not worry, brave little dragon,” she soothed, “I do not wish to hurt your wizard.” She edged around Archie, touching one hand to Douxie’s forehead. “You are still sick.”

“What do you mean?” Archie asked, a slightly-panicked edge to his voice, “His fever broke—he’s getting better!”

Before the plant girl could respond, heavy footsteps tramped towards them. A band of knights. Who looked entirely too delighted to see them.

“Exterminate them,” came the simple order.

The little plant girl moved much faster and more violently than Douxie would have expected. She bounded forward, leaping and kicking one of the knights in the face. The rest ganged up on her, and completely ignored Douxie and Archie. Archie flapped up into the air.

“You should get out of the warzone,” the dragon advised, then dive-bombed a knight, lighting him on fire.

Douxie struggled to his feet. The fresh claw marks burned, and blood was already starting to soak through the bandage. He didn’t want to sit here and let others take the fall for him. He aimed a magic blast at a knight that was sneaking up behind the plant girl. The blast wasn’t very strong, and seemed to annoy the knight more than anything else, but he turned away from Nari.

And towards Douxie.

Fuzzbuckets.

Douxie aimed blast after blast at the knight, backing up until he hit a tree. But each blast seemed to just fizzle on his armor.

“Tenebris exilium!” he yelled. A stronger blast threw the knight backwards, where he lay, stunned. Unfortunately, the rest of the knights seemed to remember that he existed, and some of them broke off from the group attacking the plant lady and came towards him instead. Douxie whipped his arm back and forth between them, unsure which one to zap first.

“Douxie!” Archie yelled, flying into one of their heads, his claws out. “I told you to get out of here!”

Douxie shrugged, sending off another blast of magic. “I never have been good at listening!”

“You shouldn’t be doing so much magic!” Archie scolded, setting another knight on fire, “You’re still weak! And when was the last time you ate?!”

“Who needs food when you can wander half-dead through an enchanted forest?” Douxie replied with a grin.

“Little wizard! Look out!”

The plant girl flying-kicked a knight away from Douxie, giving Douxie a pleased smile. “You and I work well together,” she said.

Douxie felt himself smiling back. There was something gentle and kind about her nature, despite the fact that she’d just taken out an entire platoon of knights without breaking a sweat. “Thanks. I—” a glimmer of movement caught his attention.

A crossbow.

A little girl just trying to help.

A bolt, fired through the air and towards her.

“LOOK OUT!” Douxie roared, sweeping his leg under the plant-girl’s foot and knocking her to the floor. The crossbow bolt slammed right through his ribs, throwing him backwards. Douxie gasped at the impact, then screamed as the pain set in. The scream made him draw in more breath, his lungs heaving frantically around the bolt, blood filling them. The world tilted away as Archie roared.

Xxx

Archie screamed in fury, turning into a massive bear and with one heavy blow, snapped the knight who’d fired the shot’s neck. He turned back into a dragon, flying back to his familiar, mind racing. No, no, no, no, no! He’d only just gotten Douxie back, he couldn’t lose him now, no, no, no!

Douxie’s chest heaved, his breath rattling in a final kind of way, the crossbow bolt moving up and down with each breath.

“Just hang on,” Archie pleaded, tears streaming from his eyes, “Stay with me, Douxie, don’t die, please, please…”

The plant creature approached. “I can help,” she murmured softly, almost to herself, “I can do this.”

Archie barely heard her, but he certainly saw when she knelt down next to his familiar, wrapping her hand around the bolt.

“What are you doing?!” he demanded, pushing her away, “It’s probably barbed! You’ll hurt him!”

“I can help him.”

“You’ll hurt him!”

The plant girl clenched her fists. “He is dying anyway!”

The words hit Archie like a fist, and he looked back at his familiar, who was choking and whimpering, each breath more ragged and faint than the last. He moved aside. “Save him,” he begged, “Please, whatever you have to do, just… bring him back to me.”

The plant girl nodded. “I am sorry, little wizard,” she whispered, and yanked the arrow out of him with a crunch of bone and tearing of flesh. The scream that tore out of Douxie knocked all of the wind out of Archie and he fell to the ground, claws sinking into the earth.

The plant girl sat back, and Archie looked at her frantically. “What are you doing?! I thought you were going to save him!”

“I must wait,” she said simply, “And hope that he is strong.”

Archie hissed, spitting fire. “He! Is! _Dying_!”

“I know.”

Douxie wheezed in a final kind of way, and Archie nudged his familiar’s face as he stopped breathing. “No, no, no, no! Douxie, wake up. Wake up, wake up, wake up, please—” his voice broke into a sob. “P-please…”

The plant girl stepped forward, a glowing ball of light in her hands. It floated up and into Douxie’s lifeless body. “Awake,” she breathed.

Archie watched, barely daring to hope. There was no change. Douxie’s eyes remained lifeless and glassy.

“I am sorry,” the plant girl murmured, “He deserved more—he deserved to live.” She touched Douxie’s forehead. “Find peace.” Her fingers glowed slightly.

And Douxie gasped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, hey, look, the plot that I planned out and then forgot about.


	5. Chapter 5

Douxie fidgeted nervously as two beings that radiated power studied him intensely.

The one whose face he couldn’t see spoke first in a voice that shifted and changed. “What. Is. That.”

“He is a wizard,” the plant girl, whose name, Douxie had learned, was Nari, responded, “I found him in the woods.”

The other being flew around him, wrinkling his nose. “What is it doing here? Nari, we’ve told you about playing with humans!”

“He is not just a human,” Nari protested, “He is a wizard!”

“We don’t have time for toys. Put it back where you found it.”

“He is strong.”

Douxie frowned. Where exactly was Nari getting that idea from? She’d seen him in that fight—he’d had to be saved. Twice. His magic wasn’t exactly powerful. He’d woken up here, in this cave, Archie next to him. His familiar had told him that he’d died. Completely. And Nari had… brought him back. He owed her his life.

“We don’t need it,” the voice-changing one growled, “Either throw it back to the woods or I kill it and waste the reincarnation.”

Douxie gulped, backing away. Right, time to go.

Nari grabbed his hand. “He is young, Bellroc,” she said firmly, “He will grow. And if we are there to help shape his magic, he could become more powerful than any other wizard.”

Douxie detangled his hand from Nari’s. “Look—Nari, thank you for saving me, and for believing in me, but… now that I’ve got Archie back, I just want to try and get as close back to normal as I can.”

“You are okay with that?!” she cried, “Just going back to hiding who you are, hunted by knights that hate you for having power that they do not?!”

“If it wants to go, let it,” Bellroc growled, “It’s just a weakling whelp. It could never accomplish what we need a wizard for.”

“Wh-what _do_ you need a wizard for?” Douxie asked hesitantly.

“The fall of Camelot,” the icy one breathed, “The downfall of Arthur and the freedom of magic.”

“Oh,” Douxie said in a small voice, “Neat.” What had he gotten himself into?! Messing with knights here and there was one thing, but outright _treason_ and attacking the kingdom?!

Nari held out a hand, a glowing bug intertwined with her fingers. “King Arthur has betrayed all of his magical citizens through his cruelty. We seek to restore the balance. Give magic a chance to thrive.”

“The magic he allows to live is restrained,” Bellroc spat, “Kept in a dungeon, or worse—it will betray its own to give the traitor-king power.”

Nari held her hand out to Douxie. “What do you say, Douxie? Join us, and make sure that what happened to you doesn’t happen to anyone else? And Archie, too, of course, you may join us if you wish as well.”

Douxie looked at her hand, then at the other two wizards, unease settling in the pit of his stomach. “I… I need to think about it.” He looked to Archie. “ _We_ need to think about it. It isn’t just my decision to make.”

“Bah!” Bellroc snarled, “We don’t need it! Either decide now, or leave, wizard!”

“Patience,” the pale one chided, “As Nari said, the wizard has potential. It may be easier to shape his magic the way we—er, help him grow as a wizard, rather than trying to find a master wizard and convince them to join us. Let the little wizard take his time. We have nothing but.”

“You, too, Skrael? You and Nari are distracted by foolish toys, mortals that mean nothing!”

“Hey!” Douxie piped up, “I’m not anyone’s toy!”

Skrael gave him a patronizing smile. “Of course not. Bellroc, Rome was not built in a day. Give the human time to decide.”

Douxie wasn’t sure what Rome was, but at least the balance was shifting in his favor. He backed up slowly, and when neither Bellroc or Skrael made a move to stop him, turned and limped his way down to a beach. Oh, great. He was trapped. Douxie wondered vaguely if Nimue would show up if he yelled for her. Douxie examined his leg. It seemed to be healed, but there was a chunk of flesh still missing, just healed over.

“Nari said that the limp probably wouldn’t go away,” Archie said, flapping above him, “She said that her power can’t necessarily heal everything.”

Douxie sighed, staring out over the water. “What do you think?” he asked Archie quietly, “It sounds okay, I guess. Three proper wizards helping me figure this out. I wouldn’t have to struggle through trying to learn how to use magic with just you. Not that you aren’t great, Arch, but neither of us really know what I’m doing.” He scratched his head. “I’m not so sure about overthrowing Camelot, though. I mean, I guess they’re right about Arthur. We’ve had to run and hide our whole lives for no real reason except that some guy on a throne decided that we’re dangerous.

Archie hissed. “I know it sounds like a good idea, Douxie. They sound like they want the same thing we do. But I couldn’t help thinking that what they were saying sounded _exactly_ like what Gunmar says. It sounds fantastic—a world of free magic, where we can be who we are. But that world is going to come at the cost human lives.”

Douxie crossed his arms. “You mean the cost of the lives of the people who’ve been hunting me down? That hurt you, hurt me, killed—” he broke off, watching the waves.

“Don’t go down that path,” Archie said softly, “I can’t follow you there, Douxie. I love you, and I support you, but if you decide that the only way to be free is to get rid of the humans, then we’re going to have to go our separate ways.”

“I mean…” Douxie thought of Treya, her wild but gentle nature. “Not all of the humans are bad. I don’t think that they should all die. But… Arthur and his knights treat us like animals. And they’ll keep doing it if we don’t stand up for ourselves.”

“Very true.”

Douxie jumped, whirling around to see Nari, floating cross-legged in the air. “How long have you been there?!”

“Just a moment. But you are right. Trying to be kind to the humans so that they will trust and accept magic does not work.” Nari touched down to the ground, her fingertips sparking with magic. “I met Arthur, once. When he was but a child.”

She touched the ground with her glowing fingertips, and glowing images sprang up, of Nari reaching a hand out to two young girls.

“I did not try to harm them,” she said sadly, “I wished only to share the wonders of magic with them.”

The image of a young boy ran through to the glowing Nari, waving a sword. “Get away from them, demon!” he yelled.

The image fizzled away. “Arthur will never trust magic. And as long as the humans continue to follow men like him, creatures of magic will continue to suffer.” Nari held her hand out. “The world must be wiped clean. You are a kind, good soul. I would like for you to stay with us.”

Douxie hesitated. “But… not all humans are bad. I’ve met some good ones—I even told one about my magic, and she didn’t hate me. And the two girls in your memory liked your magic.”

Nari shook her head sadly. “Those humans are always the first to die. What happened to the human that you told?”

Douxie felt a lump in his throat. “Knights killed her,” he said quietly.

Archie gasped. “Douxie, what?”

Douxie rubbed his arms. “I… I met a little girl. She was lost in the Wild Woods. I told her that I was magic, but she didn’t seem to mind. But… knights attacked us. She defended me, and…” Douxie scrubbed at his eyes, tears rolling down his cheeks. “She died,” he finished quietly.

“I’m so sorry,” Archie murmured.

“Yeah. Well. Maybe you’re right, Nari. But shouldn’t your new world belong to them, too? To the humans that love magic? They should be just as safe from harm as the wizards and trolls.”

“Perhaps.”

Douxie held his hand out for a shake, glowing blue magic surrounding it. “Alright, Nari. My terms. I’ll join you. I’ll help you, I’ll let you and your friends make my magic into what they want. But I’m not going to kill anyone. And if I decide that a human is good, or even that they’re just not bad, they get to live. You and Bellroc and Skrael don’t touch them.”

Nari hesitated. “I do not think that this is what Bellroc and Skrael had in mind. If you aren’t going to kill anyone, I’m not sure that they will think you are a good champion. I must talk to them—”

“No,” Douxie said firmly, “You and me, Nari. I don’t know Bellroc and Skrael. They don’t know me. But we’ve saved each other’s lives—you brought me back from the dead. I can make a pact with you.”

Nari looked at his hand. “You ask for the power to choose who lives and dies. It is a heavy responsibility. Are you sure it is one you wish to have?”

“If it means that I can save just one innocent life? Yes.”

Nari shook his hand, her fingers sparking with green magic that melded with his blue. “Then it is a deal.” She let go. “I will go tell Bellroc and Skrael. I know they will not be pleased with the arrangement, but I will convince them. Do not worry.”

Nari bounded away, and Archie rubbed against Douxie’s leg, purring. “I’m proud of you.”

“Hm?”

“You found a way to get what you wanted without losing yourself. And you negotiated with a demigod and didn’t back down. I’m proud of you, Douxie. You did well.”

Douxie grinned. “Thanks. Let’s see what these demigods have in store.”

Xxx

“Try again.”

Douxie focused on the leaf in his hands. “Okay, okay. Explain one more time.”

Bellroc sighed their displeasure. “It is not that _hard_!”

“Yeah, but you’re a _demigod_!”

Bellroc turned to go. “This is a waste of time. Nari was wrong about you—you can’t master our kinds of magic, you don’t even have control of your own powers!”

Douxie scrambled up, limping after the demigod. “No, wait! I can learn, I swear I can! One more time, I promise I’ll get it.”

Bellrock sighed. “Fine. Pull the magic towards you. You _can_ do that, right?”

Douxie bit his lip, concentrating. “Yes. I can do that.”

“Magic is arcane energy. Spellcasters can harness the energy and express it through spells. You take that energy and make it an extension of yourself. Focus on what you want. Any spellcaster can control what already exists—fire manipulation is common. But to create fire itself requires more focus, a better alignment with the world around you. Focus on the air, the heat of your own body as the spark that kindles the flame. Light the leaf.”

Douxie inhaled deeply, then exhaled. He could do this. He _could_. The heat of his body, the spark. The leaf between his fingers. The magic around him. A cheerful fire. The smell of cooking food. _Woodsmoke and people screaming_. A dragon breathing fire into the cold air to warm up a small child.

The leaf smoldered under his fingers, and he willed the heat to be more, to be _fire_. Warm, crackling flames. A blaze.

The smoldering edges were red, sparking. Focus on the air. Feed the fire.

The leaf burst into flames. Douxie yelped and dropped it. “Hey! I did it!”

“You can’t control it,” Bellroc snarled discouragingly, “You just lit it without thinking of the next step!”

“So teach me how to control it.”

Bellroc stopped mid-rant. “What?”

Douxie held his hands out. “Teach me how to control it.”

“Fire can’t be _controlled_!”

“But you just said—”

“You’re barely a wizard. You don’t know magic—you can’t harness the arcane energies. You’re a waste of time, and as soon as Nari and Skrael figure that out, the better.” Bellroc disappeared in a pillar of flame.

“You’re growing on them,” Nari said from behind Douxie.

Douxie chuckled. “I don’t know about that.”

“You are,” Nari insisted, “They’re just acting gruff.”

“If you say so.”

Nari held her hand out. “Come with me.”

Douxie took her hand, and with a weird, tugging, shifting, sliding sensation, they were somewhere else entirely. The wild woods. “What are we doing here?”

Nari smiled. “I do not work as well as Bellroc and Skrael in the cave. Their elements come with them. My strength comes from the earth, the life within it. Can you feel it? The pulse of the earth?”

Douxie thought about it for a moment. “Mmmmm, nope.”

Nari laughed. “Take off your shoes.”

“What?”

“Take off your shoes,” she repeated, “Come on, Douxie, do you want to learn, or not?”

Douxie slipped off his boots, standing barefoot on the ground. He wiggled his toes. “Alright, nature magic, ho.”

“Can you feel it? The earth beneath you? The tree roots, the network?”

Douxie dug his feet into the dirt. “Yeah.”

“That’s the pulse. Every living thing, breathing together. The shape of the petals on a flower. The splash of stars in the sky. The spiral of a shell. All of it is connected, shares a pattern.”

“Okay.”

“Focus on someone you know well.”

“Archie?”

“Yes, Archie is good. Especially for beginning. You know where he is?”

“Back in the cave.”

“Yes. Since you know, it will be even easier. Now. Feel the connections of the universe, the world’s pulse. Dig in deep, plant your roots. Focus on your bond. And find Archie.”

Douxie closed his eyes, breathing deeply. His bond. Purrs, a small, warm body curled up with him. Lectures, too, but only out of love, to protect him.

The earth seemed to throb, pulsing with power. The cave. Archie. And it was like he was there, with Archie, their heartbeats in sync. Douxie opened his eyes with a gasp, the dirt just dirt again.

“I felt him!” he told Nari excitedly, “I—that was _amazing_! Way easier than whatever Bellroc is trying to teach me.”

Nari smiled. “That’s because you are already deeply connected. You _feel_ , Douxie. You empathize. Why else would you have struck the deal you did? Because you already have a bond with all the creatures on this earth. The magic comes easily to you.”

“And you’re a better teacher than Skrael.”

Nari laughed. “And that.”

Xxx

“It’s about balance.”

Douxie glared up at Skrael from where he was sitting on a patch of ice. “I think you just enjoy watching me slip around and fall down.”

“Maybe. But with that leg of yours, you’re already at a disadvantage.”

Douxie carefully got up, barely preventing himself from falling again. “Whether or not I limp doesn’t affect how I do magic!”

“No, but this is war. It isn’t just about your magical ability. If you’re going to fight by our side, you must be able to _fight_. Your weaker leg will slow you down, so you have to compensate in other ways. Like being able to balance very well, even on a slow leg.”

“Are you going to even teach me any magic?”

Skrael shrugged. “Are you even going to be able to walk across a patch of ice?”

Douxie slid carefully forward, arms out for balance. Then he slipped and fell, again. “Ow!”

“Really, how _have_ you survived this long?”

“Luck,” Archie commented from atop a boulder, “Me.”

“Ha, ha,” Douxie grumbled, sliding his way back up to his feet. Slide a little bit more. Fall to Skrael’s chuckles. He got back up. There had to be a better way to do this. Douxie breathed in and out, remembering the smoldering leaf beneath his fingers. Instead of focusing the magic around his hands, he focused around his feet, and the ice started to steam beneath his feet. Douxie lifted one foot, and delicately set it down a step forward, the heat from his feet melting the ice all the way to steam and making a safe place to step. He lifted his other foot, taking another step forward and melting through. Slowly, he made his way across the ice, melting footprints into the floor.

“Bellroc!” Skrael hissed, “You’ve taught him how to cheat!”

Bellroc flew over, examining the footprints in the ice. Behind the mask, their eyes widened. “Control,” they breathed. They examined Douxie in a new way. “You _can_ learn.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like Douxie's personality and empathy would lend him more to Nari's magic, but he does prefer fire, so that's obviously more in line with Bellroc. Skrael's just the odd one out.


	6. Chapter 6

“Sister. I require your assistance.”

Morgana barely looked up from her shadowmancy book. “If it has to do with hunting trolls, or locating spellcasters, then the answer is no. Make your trained monkey Merlin do it.”

“It has nothing to do with the trolls. A local village has been under attack and have sent for assistance.”

“So send some of your knights,” Morgana replied coldly, “I don’t see why I should go.”

“It is under attack by spellcasters. Morgana, this is not about how I feel about magic, it’s about the _people_.”

Morgana shut her book with a _whump_. “And why do you suppose these spellcasters are attacking this village, Arthur? Likely it is because they have been driven from their homes by _your_ ordinances, by _your_ knights, and now they must turn to this to survive.”

“This isn’t about me, sister! This is about innocent people dying—children being slaughtered, Morgana. Do you really not care at all?”

“Take Merlin.”

“I am.”

“Then why do you need _me_?!”

Arthur looked tired. He always looked tired these days. Tired and sad. Well, he wasn’t the only one who was grieving over Guinevere. “Reports are that these spellcasters are strong, as strong as Merlin, even. If we are to save these lives, to defeat this threat… I need you, sister.”

 _I need you_.

“And when Gwen—” Morgana broke off. “When I needed you, because I was hurting. And you needed me. And you locked yourself away, and blamed me-!”

“This isn’t about us! It isn’t a request. It is an order!”

Morgana gave her brother a glare. “Fine,” she said coldly, “I’m coming. But I want to talk to the messenger first.”

Xxx

Douxie shook his head, watching a village burn. “I don’t know about this.”

“We have not harmed anyone, at your request,” Bellroc growled, “What exactly did you think a war would look like?”

“It’s just—some people have lived here their whole lives, their families have lived here, in the same houses, houses that their ancestors built, and we… we’re destroying them.”

“To win a war, you must make sacrifices,” Skrael hissed, “By attacking this village, we will lure Arthur and his knights out into the open. Then, we can begin our real work.”

Douxie shook his head again. “It just doesn’t feel _right_.”

“If it is too much for you, you can go back to the cave,” Nari said gently, “I do not think Arthur will bring his full force all at once. Once he sees that we are a serious threat, he will retaliate in kind. And then we shall call you.”

Douxie gave her a grateful look, and turned to go. Maybe he could sneak back and put out a few of the fires. Despite what Skrael had said, Douxie didn’t like the idea of collateral.

“Once Arthur discovers just how dangerous we are, he will doubtless send his spellcasters,” Bellroc snarled, “Remember that they are traitors, that they side with the humans. They deserve no mercy, and you should give them none. They will not show any to you.”

Xxx

“You’re just a child!”

The little boy nodded, looking like he might just keel over. “I ran all the way,” he whispered, “One of them, he told the other bad guys not to hurt me. He told me to run away from the village. So I came here, to find help.” His eyes teared up. “My parents… I don’t know what happened to them.”

Morgana’s face set in a hard line. Maybe she didn’t agree with Arthur’s view on magic. But these people hadn’t done anything to incite the spellcaster’s wrath. She made her way back to Arthur. “This is a trap,” she said quietly, glancing over at the knights, “They let him go, knowing he’d come here.”

“I agree,” Arthur replied, “Which is why we will bring our full force—including you and Merlin. They’ll be expecting a regular attack force. They won’t expect the full might of Camelot.”

Morgana frowned as her brother wandered off, shouting orders to his knights. Something was amiss.

The village wasn’t far, and the ride, short. Most of the village had burned down by the time they arrived, but to Morgana’s relief, she didn’t see any bodies.

“Do you feel that?” Merlin hissed to her.

Morgana shivered. It was like an oppressive atmosphere making the air thick and hard to breathe. “They’re powerful, whoever they are.” She grinned. “But I am willing to bet that they cast a shadow.”

“Morgana, no, not on your own!” Merlin hissed, but it was too late. Morgana fell backwards off her horse, tumbling into the shadows, pressing them to her will. _Show me the magic users_.

Three strange beings appeared, glowing light purple. They whispered among themselves, glancing around.

“Where are you?” Morgana murmured, willing the shadows to tell her more. They complied, showing her a hilltop that overlooked the village. “Got you.”

Morgana went back up to the world of light, nudging her horse close to Arthur’s. “They’re on that hill,” she told him in a low voice, “They’re watching.”

Arthur’s eyes narrowed. “Can you…” he sighed deeply. “Can you make a portal and take some of the knights up there?”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Morgana replied, a feeling that might have been pride that her brother was opening up to her magic swelling in her chest, “These beings—they’re more powerful than any I’ve ever seen.”

“I’ll go with you, then. And Merlin.” Arthur held a hand out. “Together?”

Morgana hissed out through her teeth. “Hope that the Lady of the Lake grants you a blessing,” she murmured, and made the portal. They appeared right over the beings, falling with a battle cry. The red and icy blue ones disappeared, and Morgana made a portal for herself, following them. The green one was not so lucky, and was faced with both Arthur and Merlin.

Morgana appeared next to the blue one. “Who are you?” she demanded, “What do you want?”

“The freedom of magic from tyranny,” they hissed, turning the ground to ice, “The fall of humanity.”

Morgana threw a bolt of shadow magic at the being as knights surged up the hill, shouting. “I won’t see you destroy my home! I too believe that magic should be freed, but you have driven innocents from their homes!”

“No human is innocent,” the being hissed.

“Who are you?” Morgana demanded again.

“The Order of all Arcane knowledge,” he responded, “The first, the last, the beginning, and soon, we will be the end.”

Morgana heard a bleating scream, and the icy being’s eyes widened. “NARI!” he shouted, and disappeared. Morgana followed, bringing her to the top of the hill, where the green one, who looked oddly familiar, was frantically throwing bolts of green magic at knights, clutching her arm. She collapsed, and the icy and fiery ones appeared, grabbing her, and then disappearing.

“No!” Arthur growled.

“I saw her,” Morgana said, half in a daze, “I know her.”

“Can you find them?” Merlin asked.

Morgana pictured the green creature—Nari—trying to find her. Anchor on her. She opened the portal. “We don’t know what’s through there,” she warned, “Let me go first—see what there is. The Order—”

“The order?”

“That’s what they call themselves. If we haven’t noticed them so far, it means they’re well hidden. If I don’t come back in five minutes—”

“I’ll find you,” Arthur growled, “Be careful, sister. I won’t let them take you, too.”

Something warm sparked in Morgana’s chest as she slipped through the shadows and into the unknown.

Xxx

Douxie jumped up as Bellroc and Skrael appeared, supporting Nari. Panic shot through his chest. “What happened?!”

“Those humans that you keep trying to save did this,” Bellroc roared, “If you had been there instead of cowering in this cave, then Nari wouldn’t be hurt!”

Nari smiled weakly at him. “It’s… not your fault, Douxie.”

Douxie felt a pang of guilt, mixed with rage. It was his fault, no matter what Nari said. He should have been there. Should have protected her. The skittering of a stone caught his attention. “What was that?!”

“They followed us!” Skrael hissed.

Douxie stalked towards the door, summoning fire around his hands. “I’ll take care of it,” he growled.

Xxx

Morgana crept through the cave she’d found herself in, looking for any sign of the order. They couldn’t have gone far—she could sense their magic.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and she ducked, just as a beam of blue fire shot over her head. She whirled towards its source, to see… a boy. He didn’t look like the rest of the order, he just looked… normal. Except for the hunted, haunted look in his eyes.

“Who are you?!” he demanded.

Morgana held her hands up. “I’m a wizard. Just like you.”

“You’re not like me!” he yelled, the fire around his hands flaring up, “You’re a traitor to magic creatures—you hurt Nari, you side with the humans—” He threw another bolt of flame, and Morgana opened a portal, swallowing it up.

“We don’t need to fight!” she pleaded, “We can work together—I don’t know what the order told you about humans—”

A stream of fire came at her from a different direction, and she rolled to the side. Her eyes widened. A _dragon_?!

The dragon landed on the boy’s shoulder, wings flared. “The Order didn’t _need_ to tell us anything about humans,” it growled, “The humans did quite a fine job of that themselves.”

The boy’s hands went almost unconsciously to his leg and ribcage, where Morgana noted that his clothing was ripped. Her heart ached for the child, and she held her hands up in surrender. “I’m sure that humans have hurt you, that Arthur has hurt you. But not all of them are like that.”

The boy’s eyes darkened. “I used to think that, too.”

Morgana brought up another portal to swallow the fire he sent her way. “We can do this all day,—what is your name?”

“Hisirdoux,” he responded, “Or Douxie, but only my friends get to call me that. This is Archie.”

“Right. Hisirdoux. Archie. I’m on your side, alright?”

“Then why did you hurt Nari?” his voice cracked in despair.

“Is she going to be okay?”

“She’ll recover,” Archie said stiffly, “Which is more than I can say for you. Last warning. Leave, or we turn you into a crisp.”

Morgana held out her staff, and dropped it to the floor, wincing at the way it clattered. “I want to help you, Hisirdoux. This doesn’t have to end in violence.”

Hisirdoux hesitated, his fire flickering.

“I can go back, tell the knights that you’ve surrendered peacefully, and try to get you the life you deserve, where you’re taken care of. I can stall them long enough for Nari to escape. They’re waiting on my word. All I ask is that you come back with me, and give humanity a second chance. Let me prove that they’re not a lost cause. And maybe… together we can convince my brother the same of magic.”

“Sounds like a trap,” Archie growled, “How do we know we can trust you?”

“You don’t,” Morgana said simply, “But what choice do you have? We can sit here at a stalemate while you try to light me on fire and I redirect all of the flames, or you can save Nari and have a chance to make things better. It’s your decision.”

Hisirdoux’s arms dropped, the fire going out. “You’ll make sure there’s enough time for Nari to get away?” he asked.

“Promise.”

“Morgana!” Arthur’s voice called, “Release her, foul spellcasters!”

Morgana’s eyes widened. “No,” she breathed, “Not now!”

Douxie was immediately back on his guard, fire rising. “You were just stalling until the knights got here!”

Morgana swore silently. How could she have forgotten to watch the time?! “No, I wasn’t—Hisirdoux, wait! Please, we can still do this, just come with me!”

Hisirdoux raised his hands then slammed them against the ground. Roots burst out of the earth, and the fire raced along them, making a fiery, impassable network. Archie lifted into the air, breathing flames of his own to help it along. Morgana gasped. Fire creation _and_ nature magic?

“I’m not going anywhere with you!” he yelled.

Morgana backed away from the flames. “They will _kill_ you, Hisirdoux!”

“Like you’d care!”

“I’m not going to see a wizard die!” Morgana slipped into the shadows, popping out behind Hisirdoux. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, “Interminus nocti sluumberso!”

She caught the young wizard as he fell, lowering him gently to the ground. The flames went out. Then something slammed into her, biting and scratching. Morgana screamed, and Archie jumped off of her and next to Douxie. “Douxie?! What did you do to him?!”

Morgana held a hand to her bleeding face and ear. “It’s just a sleep spell. He’ll be fine, he’ll wake up like nothing happened. If you do as I say.”

The dragon growled. “What’s that supposed to mean?!

“I’m going to protect him from my brother, I promise. But you have to play along.”

The knights finally caught up to her as she picked Douxie up, bridal carrying style. Arthur rushed towards her.

“Sister! What happened?!”

“I found this boy,” Morgana offered, “He’s been kidnapped by the order—likely they would have used him as a hostage had he not escaped.”

Merlin’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t say anything.

Arthur gently tilted her chin, examining the scratches and bites. “He attacked you?”

“He’s confused,” Morgana replied. That much was true. Sadness and pain did that to a person—had done it to Arthur. “He and his guardian thought I was here to hurt them.”

Merlin finally piped up. “His guardian?!”

To Morgana’s surprise, a black cat leapt off of a rock, rubbing against her leg. Then she saw the marking on his chest, and the glasses. A shapeshifter. That was... unexpected. “Yes. This noble creature.” Morgana hesitated. “Arthur… I believe that he is a spellcaster.”

Arthur drew back, drawing his sword slightly. “A spellcaster?!”

“As am I. As is Merlin.”

The old man murmured something that might have been “leave me out of this.”

Morgana pushed ahead. “Please, Arthur, he is just a child. Let him live. I will keep an eye on him, I promise. He will not hurt anyone.” That, she was almost sure of.

Arthur pushed his sword back in his sheath. “Very well, sister. He is _your_ responsibility. Take him back to Camelot.” Her brother pushed past her, but not roughly. “I must deal with the threat of this _Order_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Older sister Morgana, older sister Morgana, older sister Morgana oldersistermorganaoldersistermorgana


	7. Chapter 7

“Are you insane?”

Morgana crossed her arms. “If saving the life of an innocent boy is insane, then I will happily go mad.”

Merlin threw his hands in the air. “Morgana, he’s not _innocent_ , he’s an accomplice of the Order! He tried to light you on _fire_!”

“So what? He’s a wizard, he’s a child, and he deserves to live.” Morgana crossed the room, standing next to her old teacher. “He’s just a boy, Merlin.”

“He’s a dangerous threat! Where are you keeping him, the dungeon?”

“I’m not an animal! He’s up in the tower.”

Merlin yelped. “You put a _wizard prisoner_ in my tower, in a room full of _books about magic_?! He’s probably burned down half of the kingdom by now!”

“Relax, he’s still asleep, as far as I know.”

“You’re not keeping him in _my_ tower!”

“Well, I can hardly keep him in my room, can I?”

Merlin breathed out deeply through his nose. “Alright. Fine. You’re keeping a dangerous convict in my tower. Where is the dragon?”

“In my room.”

“Morgana!”

“What? I don’t need your permission to keep a cat.”

Merlin groaned. “By the seven rings, Morgana, you will be the death of me.”

“Oh, yes, thank you for helping back there. I’d think you’d be trying to save a spellcaster, old man.”

“Yes, _regular_ spellcasters! Not spellcasters launching a coup against the king!”

Morgana scowled. “According to my brother, simply to _be_ a spellcaster is to be a coup against him.”

“Oh, for—Morgana, he is a _hazard_!”

“You heard Arthur. He is _my_ responsibility. Which means that it is up to _me_ , and not _you_. So stay out of it.”

“You’re keeping him in _my_ tower, I think I get to have some say!” Merlin started towards the door. “I’m going to go ward the tower.”

Morgana portaled in front of him. “Oh, no, you don’t get to wake him up. You’ll scare him.”

“Well, then, you do it and explain, and then _I_ am going to ward my _very flammable_ tower from a _fire-wizard terrorist_!”

Morgana marched up the stairs. “I _will_!” She pushed open the door to see an empty room, a magical rope hanging out of the window. “Oh, no.”

Xxx

Douxie yawned, stretching and blinking at his surroundings, some kind of room with books. Where… was… he… It all came rushing back—The injured Nari, the cave, the Camelot traitor witch—

“Oh, no. No, no, no, no!” Douxie whirled around. “Archie?!”

His familiar was nowhere in sight—the traitor witch must be keeping him somewhere else. Or… A thrill of fear shot through Douxie, and he looked around for a way out—a window! He grabbed a chair that was in the room with him and threw it into the window. The window cracked, and Douxie slammed the chair into it again, glancing towards the door. No one was coming for him, but he could hear muffled, arguing voices. Douxie hit the window one more time, and it shattered, the chair falling down into a courtyard. Douxie summoned fire, melting the sharp shards of glass into liquid. He glanced down. It was a far way to fall. But that didn’t matter. He summoned a magical rope, latching one end to a bookshelf and lowering himself out the window. Had the door even been locked? Whatever, it didn’t matter now. He was already rappelling down the side of the tower.

As he made the next jump, the wall beneath him turned into a black and gold hole, and he fell through it back into the room. The traitor witch was waiting.

xxx

“Douxie!” Morgana protested

Douxie summoned his fire. “You can’t hold me in here!”

Morgana waved a hand. The door locked. A glowing film appeared over everything, and Douxie’s fire extinguished, to his apparent surprise. “Well. I think I actually can.”

Douxie glared at his hands, like they’d betrayed him. “What did you do?”

“Magic inhibition field,” she replied loftily, “It works best in contained spaces. In this room, now neither of us can use magic.”

Douxie charged towards the door, bowling her over. Morgana yelped as she fell, then grabbed his ankle as he tried to run, bringing him crashing down with an almighty _thump_.

“What are you doing up there?” Merlin called.

“Nothing!” Morgana yelled back as Douxie tried unsuccessfully to scoot away from her, “I have it under control!” She tugged him away from the door, then sat cross-legged across from him. “Listen, Douxie—Douxie, listen to me. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Douxie rolled up, imitating her cross-legged position. “Yeah, that’s what you said last time, right before you _kidnapped me_. Not sure I believe you this go round.”

“I’m sorry about that, I really am. But the knights were coming, and it was the only thing I could think of to keep them from killing you—look, I’m not going to go over this. I don’t think I ever introduced myself. My name is Morgana. I’m a shadowmancer, and I’m trying to help you.”

Douxie seemed to disregard this. “What happened to Nari?”

Morgana shifted uncomfortably. The knights had come back, but Arthur had been in a foul mood, and she hadn’t asked. “I… don’t know.”

Douxie frowned. “So, what. I behave, and you tell me, is that the deal now?”

The words felt like a gut punch. “No, I…” Morgana sighed. “Douxie, I’ve had… a lot of relationships in my life that were give and take, trade and barter, equivalent exchange. My relationship with Arthur. With my master. I don’t want it to be like that with you.” She leaned forward. “So, here’s the deal. I will _never_ withhold information about the Order or Nari from you, unless I think it’s dangerous for you to know. It does not matter how well or badly you behave yourself, as soon as _I_ know, _you_ know.”

Douxie eyed her. “Never?”

“Never,” Morgana repeated, “You don’t have to do anything for me to tell you. Now, I will say, it would be _nice_ if you would not try to run away, mostly because there are quite a few trigger-happy knights wandering around, and if they saw a rogue wizard, I might not be able to guarantee your safety. Understand?”

“I understand,” Douxie grumbled.

Morgana smiled, getting to her feet. “Good. I’m going to go, now, but I’ll be back later.”

Douxie gestured to the room. “Are you going to take down the field?”

“No. Not yet.”

“Don’t you trust me?”

Morgana offered him a hand. “You’re a resourceful, headstrong young wizard that doesn’t particularly want to be here. So, no. I don’t think I quite do.”

Douxie ignored her hand, scrambling up to his feet. “I’m a prisoner.”

“No, I—” Morgana ran a hand through her bangs. “It’s a complicated, delicate situation.”

“Then maybe,” Douxie said coldly, “You should have just left me where you found me.”

Xxx

“Brother. How did the raid go?”

Arthur scowled at the floor. “The scum got away. And killed a few of my own.”

A strange mixture of relief and guilt flooded through Morgana. At least she wouldn’t have to tell Douxie that his friends had died. “Unfortunate.”

“I’m not sure you really think so.”

And there it was. All signs of the brother that had warned her to be careful and promised to come after her were gone, replaced by a man who was defined by his hatred of magic. “I’m not sure what would make you think so,” Morgana replied carefully, “I do not take other’s deaths lightly.”

Arthur sighed, his anger melting into his usual tired grief. “And what of the boy?”

“He is… having some trouble adjusting,” Morgana said truthfully, “I’m keeping him in Merlin’s tower for now. But I am afraid that the Order still has hold over him. He may try to leave and rejoin them.”

Arthur’s eyes lit up. “Then we let him. And we follow him to them.”

A thrill of fear shot through Morgana. If she let it happen and Douxie thought she’d betrayed him… or worse, if the Order thought that he had betrayed them—well, Arthur’s knights certainly wouldn’t cry over the death of another wizard. “He does not know where they are,” she said quickly, “He would only look, as your knights already are.”

Arthur waved a dismissive hand. “Then why should it matter if the boy try to escape?”

Morgana hesitated. “I was just hoping that… if you could order your knights not to hurt him if he does attempt to leave. If you could ask them to tell me instead of pursuing him themselves.”

“Hm.” Arthur considered the idea. “Will you try to use the shadows to find the Arcane Order?”

There is was. The trade and barter. But if it kept Douxie from getting shot… “I will take a look.”

She spotted someone creeping around the corner behind Arthur’s back. Before her brother could turn around, Morgana opened a shadow portal beneath Douxie, sending him back to the tower. She needed to put better wards up.

Xxx

Douxie landed with a _thump_ back on the floor of the tower. The door closed and locked. Fuzzbuckets. How did she keep catching him?! Okay, next plan.

Douxie clambered up on top of the bookshelf, knocking a few things off in the process. Castles were probably very good for defense or something, but keeping out the damp wasn’t something they were known for, and there was a rotten patch of wood on the ceiling. Douxie kicked at it until it splintered into a hole just barely big enough for him to wriggle through. He came out on the roof, and he slid down towards the edge, jumping off and landing with an _oof_ on a lower roof. From there, he made his way to a staircase, running back down.

And straight into a knight, who grabbed his arm. “Where do you think _you’re_ going?”

Douxie stomped on the knight’s instep, but it seemed to hurt him more than the knight. Oh. Wait. He wasn’t in the magic inhibition field anymore. Douxie grabbed the knight’s metal-clad arm and heated his own hand up. The knight yelped and let go of him, and Douxie bolted down the rest of the stairs.

A hand reached out of a puddle of darkness in the wall and grabbed his tunic, yanking him back into the portal and back to the tower.

“The order got away,” Morgana said simply, then put a glowing bubble over the hole he’d made in the ceiling, setting the field back up and disappearing.

The order had gotten away. Nari was safe. He just had to get Archie, escape Camelot, and find his way back to them. Douxie slammed his shoulder against the door. There had to be more than one way out of this tower.

Xxx

Morgana was getting a bit tired of the escape attempts. Sure, she got it, Douxie didn’t exactly want to be here, but it seemed like every time she turned around, he was sneaking out one way or another.

After the third time her dinner was interrupted—this time seeing Douxie attempting to scale the wall outside—she was about ready to knock him out again, just long enough that she could _get a break_. She portaled outside, but Douxie dropped from the wall before she could grab him, rolling to break his fall and making a run for it, limping. Morgana felt a tug in her heart. She hadn’t known that he limped.

Morgana dove into the shadows again, this time successfully catching Douxie and dumping him back in the tower. “Could you hold still for just _five minutes_?!” she demanded, “What’s so important?!”

Douxie crossed his arms. “I’ve got to find Archie.”

Morgana stopped for a beat. “Oh. _Oh_! I forgot—I’m sorry, Douxie. I said I’d tell him when you woke up, and I… forgot to do that.”

“Where are you keeping him?!” Douxie demanded, “I want to see him!”

Morgana shrugged. “Well, there’s no reason for the two of you to be kept apart.” She walked briskly back to her room, where Archie was curled up on her bed, happily shredding her blanket. “Oh! You and Douxie both! You can’t help yourselves, can you? You just have to be as destructive as possible!”

Archie sniffed. “Any way we can annoy Arthur is a good way.” He blinked. “Hold a moment, does that mean that Douxie’s awake?!”

“Yes.”

Archie launched himself towards her. “I want to see him. If you’ve hurt him—”

“He’s fine,” Morgana promised, opening a portal, “Let’s go see him.”

Archie barreled through the portal, and Morgana followed into the tower, where Archie had already slammed into Douxie, purring. Douxie hugged him tight.

Douxie eyed Morgana. “I thought you couldn’t do magic in here?”

“I took it down. Briefly. I’m very good at microspells.” Morgana hissed out through her teeth. “Douxie? What happened to your leg?”

Douxie seemed to close off, and Archie’s back arched.

“I just noticed your limp,” Morgana said quietly, “What happened?”

Douxie stroked Archie’s head. “I… had a run in with the knights,” he said softly, “I guess… I don’t know, maybe it would have been okay if I’d found someone who would help me. But… It got bad, and… Archie saved me, but my leg… it’s not going to be the same. Ever.”

Morgana’s chest got tight. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly, “You didn’t deserve that.”

Archie hissed quietly. “No, he didn’t. He also doesn’t deserve to be _locked up_!”

“No, you don’t,” Morgana agreed, “But it’s the only way I can protect you right now—once things settle down a bit—”

“He’s a _wizard_!” Archie protested, “Things aren’t going to just _settle down_!”

“They will,” Morgana promised, “I didn’t think life would ever settle down when my own gifts blossomed. But they have. More or less.” Morgana rubbed her arms. “I…” She looked at Douxie, whose mind seemed to be far away. “Douxie?”

He frowned. “What’s that?”

Morgana looked around. “What?”

His head tilted slightly to the side. “That sound.”

Morgana frowned. Nothing unusual. “You mean… the court musicians?”

Douxie turned towards her, his eyes alight. “Can I get closer?”

It was hard to say no to that face, especially after what she’d just heard. “Well… I suppose it can’t hurt, can it? Come on.”

Morgana checked the tower for Merlin, then waved Douxie on, leading him to the main hall. The knights were all in there, toasting the fallen while the musicians played. Morgana put her arm out to stop Douxie from going in. “This is close enough. Considering that they’re celebrating the lives and mourning the deaths of knights that your order killed.”

Douxie gave an absent nod, watching the musicians intently, completely enraptured by the music. Morgana felt a small smile creep over her face watching him. There. She’d found something he liked. That wasn’t so hard, was it? She could start there.

The band finished, and Douxie started to move forward. “I want to meet them.”

Morgana grabbed the back of his tunic. “Not when there are knights everywhere. Tell you what. I will get you a change of clothes, and you can take a bath, and then tomorrow, I will take you to talk to them.” She gave him a slight smile. “If you’re planning to be here tomorrow.”

Douxie hesitantly smiled back. “Maybe I will.”

Xxx

“Morgana, what have you done?”

Morgana rolled her eyes. “You could at least wait for me to get down the stairs, old man.”

Merlin shook his time map at her. “I don’t know _what_ you did, but I know you had something to do with it!”

Morgana strode down towards him. “What _are_ you talking about?”

Merlin opened the map. The timelines were blue, displaying a fire-free world.

“Isn’t that a _good_ thing?”

Merlin nodded. “It is. But it’s still…” the timeline flickered red again, then back to a steady blue. “… volatile,” the old wizard finished, “The future of the world is hinging on something you’re doing—and whatever it is is on the fence about it.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some timeskips/place changes in this one

Douxie stared at the scar on his ribcage, gently touching the jagged lump. “I… died,” he said softly.

“Nari brought you back,” Archie responded simply.

Douxie pulled the new tunic Morgana had brought him on over his head. “I know. But…” he clutched at the fabric. “I don’t remember anything, Archie. What if this is it? What if when I die, I’ll just… stop existing?”

“Maybe you simply cannot remember what happened,” Archie soothed.

“It was pretty important! I’d think I’d remember it!”

“Do you remember your birth? Of course not. But I’d say that was pretty important, too.”

Douxie grinned. “Okay, okay. You got me, Arch.” He knocked on the door to the tower to let Morgana know that he was done. She opened the door, smiling. “How do they fit?”

“Well.” Douxie was finding it hard not to like Morgana. He _knew_ that she was a traitor to magic, he _knew_ that she was an enemy, but she was just so… nice to him. And she seemed sad. He’d passed the king before, too, and he’d seemed sad. Made it a _little_ harder to hate him. But just a little. He was still a tyrant that had killed too many magical creatures to be trusted.

Douxie followed Morgana through the castle. “What are we doing?” Archie hissed, “Shouldn’t we be getting out of here?”

“I just want to meet the musicians,” Douxie whispered back, “Then we’ll work on our escape. Promise.”

“Douxie, are you… starting to _like_ it here?!”

“No! Of course not!” Douxie protested, “I just… I did like the music. C’mon, Arch, we never got to hear music with the order. It’s just this one thing.”

“One thing,” Archie repeated, but he didn’t sound convinced.

Douxie jogged to catch up with Morgana, who pushed open a door. “Hello.”

The musicians jumped, one of them clutching her lute closer. “My—my lady,” the lead singer stammered, “What brings you here? Have we… done something wrong?”

“Of course not. I simply had someone who wanted to meet you. He rather enjoyed your performance last night.”

Douxie peered around Morgana with a small wave. “Hi.”

The musicians relaxed, but they still cast worried glances at Morgana. The glances didn’t go by the shadowmancer. She gave the musicians a gracious nod. “Thank you for your time.” She turned to go, giving Douxie a little push into the room. “Go on.”

Douxie shuffled closer as she shut the door behind them. “Hi,” he said again.

“You have a small dragon behind you,” one of them said.

“That’s Archie. I’m Douxie. Hi.”

The woman with the lute stood up. “Hi. I’m Amber. You—you liked the music?”

Douxie grinned. “I did! It was beautiful! I really liked the lute part, your hands moved so fast!”

With that, the frigid barrier between them seemed to collapse, and the other musicians followed Amber’s lead, laughing and joking, introducing themselves. Amber caught Douxie’s glance at her lute and held it out. “Would you like to try?”

Douxie’s whole face lit up. “Can I?”

“Sure. Just don’t break it, okay?”

Douxie delicately took the lute, brushing his fingers against the strings. The strings hummed, filling the room with their vibrating sound. Douxie grinned. “Awesome,” he breathed.

Amber adjusted his hands on the lute. “This way works better.” She gave him a warm smile. “If you’d like, I could give you lessons.”

Douxie felt like the floor had been pulled out from underneath him. “Really?!”

Archie coughed behind him. Oh. Right. They couldn’t stay here, what was he thinking?! He couldn’t give up on the order for _music lessons_!

“Um. Thanks,” he told Amber in a more subdued voice, handing back her lute, “But I’m just passing through.”

“How’d you fall in with Morgana?” the lead singer, Gerald, asked, “You seem like a good kid.”

Douxie shifted. “Oh. She saved my life.”

The drummer, Lana, snorted. “The shadowmancer, lady of darkness, saved your life?”

“She did!” Douxie protested, “The knights would have killed me because I’m a wizard, but—”

He could tell instantly that he’d said the wrong thing. The musicians all tensed back up again, except Amber, who just looked back and forth between her fellow musicians and Douxie. “Get out,” Gerald said in a low voice.

“I—” Douxie tried.

“GET OUT!” Gerald roared, “I’m not having my position threatened because of you!”

Douxie backed up, Archie flapping out behind him. “I’m not going to hurt—”

Gerald slammed the door in his face. To his irritation, Douxie felt tears spring to his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Douxie,” Archie said quietly, “But humans—”

Douxie turned and ran away from the musicians’ room. Anything to get away.

Xxx

Merlin frowned as the timelines turned back to a deep red, the apocalypse flickering. “No—no! Morgana!”

His former apprentice, who’d been up in her prisoner’s room, poked her head down the stairs. “What?”

He gestured to the timelines. “What did you do? They’re all mucked up again!”

“What makes you assume it was my—” Morgana’s eyes widened. “Douxie!”

Xxx

Amber jumped as the door slammed open, an angry Morgana storming in. “WHAT DID YOU DO?!” the shadowmancer demanded.

Gerald quailed before the sorceress. “I—I—”

Morgana whirled around. “Where’s Douxie?!”

Amber stepped forward. “I’m sorry, my lady, he ran off. He’s not with you?”

Morgana trembled, looking like she might cry. “No!”

Amber hesitantly reached out, unsure if it was out of place to comfort the king’s sister. She settled for a friendly pat on the arm, steering the distraught royal out by her elbow. “I’ll help you find him. He can’t have gone far.” She offered Morgana a small smile. “It may be out of place for me to say this, your majesty, but… it is good to see you care about something again.”

Xxx

“Douxie?” Morgana’s voice called softly, “Where are you?”

Douxie pulled back against the wall of the wardrobe he was hiding in. He didn’t want to talk to her—or anyone—right now.

“Come on, Douxie,” Morgana tried, “I’m sorry about the musicians—Amber told me everything. Just come out, please.”

Douxie shuffled towards the door of the wardrobe, just trying to peer out of the crack he’d left in the door, but his foot made an almighty _thump_ against the wood. The wardrobe doors flew open, and he tumbled out. “Ow.”

Morgana slid down the side of the wardrobe to sit next to him. “What were you doing in there?”

Douxie shrugged.

“Are you alright?”

“No,” he muttered, voice thick.

“Do you want to… talk about it?”

“No.”

“Do you want me to go away?”

“No,” Douxie responded, surprising himself.

“Okay.” Morgana didn’t say anything for a while, she just sat there with him. “Some people… aren’t actually afraid of magic,” she said finally, “Some of them are just afraid of what it means to be associated with magic. They worry that if they show sympathy towards someone with magic, if they associate with a magical being… Arthur will punish them alongside the magic one.”

“’s a stupid law,” Douxie muttered, “Why’d he do that, anyway?”

Morgana tilted her head back, staring out the window. “Because… he was hurting,” she said quietly, “He lost someone he loved very much to a magical beast, and he lashed out. He didn’t cope well.”

That made it just a little bit harder for Douxie to hate Arthur. But only a little bit. “That’s why he’s sad all the time?”

Morgana started. “What?”

Douxie leaned back against the wardrobe. “Nari… her brand of magic is about understanding. About feeling what’s around you.” Saying it almost felt like a betrayal, but why shouldn’t he? “She taught me how to extend my roots, how to use magic to tell how others were feeling. The tyrant is… sad.” The next words escaped in barely a whisper. “And so are you.” He’d been able to tell the moment he’d met Morgana—she was full of pain, sadness and anger.

Morgana didn’t give any indication she’d heard him. “Maybe he is just sad. But that does not excuse his actions. Sometimes… it seems like the entire world is against me,” she said quietly, “And… I think maybe you feel that way, too.”

“Who doesn’t?”

Morgana got to her feet and offered him a hand. “Well. Perhaps we can face the entire world together?”

Douxie took her hand and let her haul him back up. “Does that mean that you’ll help me launch an uprising against the king?”

Morgana barked a startled laugh. “Don’t say that so loud!”

“That’s a no, then?”

She wrinkled her nose. “How about we call it a maybe.”

Douxie’s heart sank to the bottom of his stomach. Right. She just thought he was a kid, that he was joking. “You don’t think I can do it.”

“Oh, Douxie, I—”

Douxie yanked his hand away. “Bellroc and Skrael didn’t think I could, either. You don’t believe me. They didn’t. Nari and Archie are the only ones who ever did.”

A slight smile crept over Morgana’s face. “Actually… I do believe that there is one more person who believes in you. Maybe not that you’re planning to destroy the kingdom. But that you can do good things, and learn.” She offered her hand to him again. “Come with me?”

Douxie’s curiosity got the better of him, and he followed her back to the tower. An old man there narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but didn’t say anything. Some kind of knight, based on the armor. “Is this a trick?”

“Douxie, I could make a portal underneath you and sweep you back here in an instant. I don’t have any need to trick you.” Morgana pushed open the door to his prison room. Amber was sitting on the floor, scratching Archie under the chin. Amber scrambled to her feet.

“You found him! Douxie, I’m so sorry about what happened, and I just wanted you to know that it doesn’t matter if you’re a wizard or not. Gerald was wrong.” Amber gave him a slight smile. “Aaaaand if you’re not going anywhere… I’m still happy to give you those lute lessons?”

Archie jumped up onto Douxie’s shoulder. “I like her,” he murmured in Douxie’s ear.

Douxie felt a warm glow in his chest, a smile creeping across his face. “I do, too,” he murmured back. He turned to Amber with a smile. “Yeah. Yeah, I’d like that.”

Xxx

“Morgana. You fixed it.”

Morgana turned to face Merlin. She needed to find somewhere new for Douxie to stay, she was getting sick of always having to deal with Merlin. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Whatever was wrong with the timelines.” Merlin held up the time map. “You fixed it.”

“You must be mistaken.”

Merlin shook the map. “What is it that you’re doing, hm? Does it have something to do with the boy you’re hiding in my tower?”

A thrill of panic shot through Morgana. No. Douxie was _hers_. He was _her_ wizard, and Merlin _didn’t get to take him from her_. Part of her knew she was being irrational—what could Merlin possibly want with Douxie? But the other part of her wanted to take that time map and smash it into a million pieces so that Merlin wouldn’t even _start_ to factor Douxie into his plans and make him just another number, a statistic, a disposable life.

“Not possible,” she said icily, “He’s just another spellcaster. And he’s _my_ responsibility. Not yours. So _stay out of it_.” She jabbed a finger at him. “I mean it, old man. You will keep all of your scheming and future mumbo-jumbo out of his life. Let him just… be himself.”

Merlin held the time map up as it briefly flickered red. “If I see that being himself is going to put the future in danger, then I will do whatever it takes!”

Morgana reached over and closed the time map. “Then. Don’t. Look.”

“Morgana-!”

Morgana held the map closed, leaning in close to Merlin. “Get your head out of the future, old man, and stay _in the present_. If you miss what’s happening now because you’re looking at the future, then you have already lost it.”

Xxx

Morgana strode through the hallways, giving death glares to anyone who dared get in her way. She pushed past Merlin straight up to Douxie’s room, shoving open the door with a _wham_ and slamming it behind her as hard as she could.

“My brother is an _idiot_ , and I don’t _care_ that he is the king!”

Douxie jumped, making a twanging sound on the lute he was holding. Amber leapt up, sinking into a curtsey. “Your majesty.”

“Don’t,” Morgana snapped, “You don’t have to do that.”

“Are you… okay?” Douxie hedged.

Morgana let out a short laugh. “No! Not really!” She hissed out through her teeth. “Arthur and I… had a fight.” Her hands curled into fists when she thought of it. “A big one. About… trolls. And spellcasters.”

“About me?” Douxie guessed.

“No!” Morgana said, maybe a little too quickly, “No, not about you. I’m actually pretty certain he’s forgotten about you.” More or less. Occasionally he asked how her “pet project” was going, or asked whether or not Douxie was ready to fight trolls with magic. Morgana paced the room. “It’s just… he thinks that all trolls are evil, but the ones in the dungeon—”

Douxie jumped. “There are _trolls_ here? In a _dungeon_?!”

Morgana made a mental note to strengthen the wards around the tower. If Douxie got caught helping trolls… much as she agreed with the sentiment, there wouldn’t be anything she could do to protect him from Arthur. “Yes. There are. And I’ve had this fight so often, they blend together! They shouldn’t be locked up, but _Arthur_ seems to think that they’re monsters who would turn on us if we tried!”

“So kill him,” Douxie said simply, “Take the kingdom. Free the trolls. You’d be a better ruler.”

Morgana couldn’t deny that the thought had crossed her mind. More than crossed it, in fact, she’d thought about it quite frequently recently, had even planned the moment, honed her magic in preparation. But once Douxie said it out loud, it sounded… ridiculous. He was her brother—they were family; she couldn’t kill him.

Amber gasped. “Douxie! You can’t say that out loud!”

Morgana shook her head. “Douxie, he’s my family—the only family I’ve got. Would you want to kill your own family?

Douxie shrugged. “Wouldn’t know. Never had one. ‘Cept for Archie,” he amended.

Morgana had suspected as much, but it still hurt to hear it. “Well. Family is important. Maybe I don’t always agree with my brother, but even if he’s in the wrong, I still love him.” And when she said it out loud, she realized that it was true. She sighed. “It just seems like every time we talk, we fight.”

Amber plucked absently at her lute, sitting down. “You know, sometimes, talking isn’t always the best option.”

Morgana frowned. “What are you suggesting?”

Amber smiled. “Sometimes, actions speak louder than words. Sometimes, showing is better than telling. There are ways to let your brother know that you care, and remind him that _he_ cares, that don’t involve words.”

“You,” Morgana told her, “Are _wasted_ as a musician. You should be a diplomat.”

Amber laughed. “Keep me out of politics, thank you. Music is easier.” She grinned at Douxie. “And the people are better.”

Morgana smiled at the musician. “You’re right.” She opened the door.

“Where are you going?” Douxie asked.

Morgana grinned. “To go remind my brother how things used to be.”

Xxx

Morgana closed the tower door behind her. The smile melted right off of her face when she saw Merlin standing in front of her. “What do _you_ want?”

“To talk. I know how you feel about my looking into the future when it concerns your pet—”

“Douxie is _not_ my pet!”

Merlin raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And what reason do you have to keep him? Arthur wouldn’t notice if you let him loose, provided he stayed out of Camelot.”

Morgana sniffed. “Maybe _I_ want to have an apprentice.”

“They’re not worth the trouble,” Merlin snarked.

Morgana crossed her arms. Very funny. “Get to the point, old man.”

“What happened? The other day?”

Morgana rolled her eyes. “Douxie got a full taste of human stupidity and cruelty, and then a dose of human kindness. What does it matter to you?”

“What does it matter to the future,” Merlin corrected, “I know you won’t approve, but I’d rather have you help me with this than hinder me. For my sake, _and_ the boy’s.”

Morgana narrowed her eyes. “What is it?”

Merlin held the time map out. “I want to try an experiment.”

Xxx

Nari hauled herself up, flexing her arm. The enchanted sleep had done its work. The wound had healed flawlessly. “Bellroc? Skrael? Douxie? Archie?”

Skrael and Bellroc appeared. “Nari!” Skrael exclaimed, “You’re alright!”

“I am now, thanks to the slumber.” Nari looked around. “Where are Douxie and Archie?”

“They were captured,” Bellroc growled.

Nari jumped up. “What?! We have to go rescue them!”

“They’re probably already dead,” Bellroc replied, “And if they’re not, well, they weren’t strong enough, and we have no use for them.”

“We cannot just abandon them!” Nari protested, “They are our friends! They would come for us!”

“Nari, they sacrificed themselves so that we could escape,” Skrael interjected, “It would dishonor them if we were to attempt a rescue and be hurt or captured ourselves.”

Nari’s lip wobbled. Who knew what the humans could be doing to Douxie? Torture? Locking him in a dank, damp hole? Her friend didn’t deserve that!

“Just forget about him,” Bellroc snapped, “He will just have to wait until we find and break the seals—then we will be able to free him, and all the other magical creatures under Arthur’s control.”

Nari nodded to satisfy Bellroc and Skrael, but she was already formulating a plan, regardless of whatever her siblings said.

She was going to get Douxie and Archie back.


	9. Chapter 9

(Amber, in case anyone was curious as to what she looked like)

Morgana folded her arms. Amber had left while Merlin was explaining his plan, so it was just her and the wizard, Douxie and Archie alone upstairs. “You were right. I _don’t_ approve.”

“It’s safe,” Merlin wheedled, “No one gets hurt.”

The room started to get darker. “Maybe not physically! But if you think this isn’t damaging, then I think you’ve lost sight of how to be human!”

Merlin locked eyes with her. “Morgana, this is happening with or without your help. The least damage will be done to everyone involved if you are there.”

Morgana glared at him, leveling one finger at his face. “Fine. But we are _not_ involving Amber.”

“Who?”

Morgana was about three seconds away from STRANGLING Merlin, and unlike if she killed Arthur, she wouldn’t feel even a little bit bad about it. “The musician. Who was part of your plan. We’re not involving her.”

Merlin frowned. “Why not? She’s the best choice—she’s not magical, the boy trusts her—”

Did she seriously have to explain this?! “First of all, she would never agree. And second of all, because if she did, it would absolutely _crush_ Douxie! Merlin, she and I are probably the ONLY things keeping him from snapping! Archie certainly wouldn’t stop him if he decided to break out and take all of the trolls with him!”

“Oh, I thought you said he wasn’t a threat?”

“Amber stays out of it. End of story.”

“Fine. What do you suggest, then?”

“One of the knights. I’m sure they’ll have no qualms.” Morgana shook her finger at Merlin. “One test. That’s it. And then you get off of my back, and you leave Douxie alone.”

“One test,” Merlin promised, “One is all it should take.”

Morgana glared. “Good. Because if you thought you could convince me to help you with a second, you’d find yourself in a distant location with no hope of getting back. Go find a knight.”

Merlin left, and Morgana sank down into a chair. _You’re helping Douxie_ , she told herself, _it would be worse if Merlin did it himself_. That didn’t make it feel any better. _One test. One experiment_. But _would_ it be only one? Or would Merlin just sneak around her and stop asking for permission?

The door opened, and Merlin stepped back through, one of Camelot’s knights—of course, a blonde brute, all of them in the image of Arthur—behind him. Merlin gave the knight a nod. “You are to go in. Be cruel. Call him a name or something. You are under _no_ circumstances to harm the boy or in any way touch him.” One of Merlin’s eyebrows rose. “And in case you need any incentive to remember that, I’m sure Morgana will tear your spine out and beat you with it if you forget.”

The knight gave Morgana a cool look that was entirely too unconcerned. Maybe she should rip his spine out, just to remind everyone that she was still dangerous, even if she was listening to Arthur at the moment. She gave the knight a glare back.

“You don’t touch a single hair on his head,” she affirmed.

The knight gave a short nod, and disappeared up the stairs. Merlin set the time map up. Morgana started to pace.

“How long should it take?” she asked, “What if Douxie lashes out?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you worried about someone like this before,” Merlin commented, “It’s a strange look on you.”

Morgana flushed. “Hush. I know the magic inhibiting field is up, but—”

“Morgana! Quit your fussing, everything will be fine! Remember, once he’s gone, you go back up, you convince him that humanity isn’t so bad, and we see what happens.”

The time map turned a solid red as the knight came back down and left. Morgana cast it a worried look. “Now?”

“Give it a moment,” Merlin replied, but he was too late. Morgana was already running up the stairs, heart pounding in her chest. When she opened the door, she saw Douxie kneeling on the floor, bent over, his arms pressing to his stomach and his forehead against his knees. She rushed towards him.

“Douxie, what—”

Archie dropped down in front of him with a hiss, swiping at Morgana with his claws. “Stay away from him!”

Morgana dodged around the angry familiar, kneeling next to Douxie, who was gasping for air. “What happened?!” she demanded.

“What _happened_ ,” Archie spat poisonously, “is that one of your brother’s meathead knights got in and kicked him for no reason!”

Douxie gasped. “W-why?” he whimpered, “I did-didn’t even do anything to—to him!”

Morgana gently pushed him into a sitting position, her hands shaking with rage. “Sit up, it’ll be easier to breathe,” she advised, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go rip out a knight’s spine and beat him with it.”

She slammed the door behind her, marching back down without even locking the tower behind her. If Douxie ran away, then _good for him_. Merlin was busy examining the time map. “Oh, you’re back ear—”

Morgana sent a blast of magic at the time map, sending it skittering into the wall.

“Morgana!” Merlin gasped.

Morgana swiped the time map out of the air as Merlin attempted to pull it towards him. “YOU SAID HE WOULDN’T GET HURT!”

Merlin finally grabbed the map, clutching it close to him to protect it from her. “I cannot plan for every—”

“YOU COULD HAVE PICKED A BETTER KNIGHT!” Morgana stormed towards the door.

“Where are you going?”

“To murder a knight!”

Merlin started towards her. “Morgana, wa—”

Morgana slammed the door so hard it cracked, moving in a whirlwind of fury towards the knight’s barracks. Amber poked her head out of the door. “Morgana? What is-?”

“I’m going to CUT OFF HIS FOOT and FEED IT TO HIM!” Morgana roared

Amber’s eyes widened, and she ran in the direction of the tower. “Douxie!”

Morgana slammed the door to the barracks opened. One knight, far in the back, turned and ran. The one who had kicked Douxie. Morgana shot after him, lifting off of the ground and flying towards him. The other knights watched in silent horror as she caught up, grabbing the back of his armor and throwing him into the wall.

“DID YOU THINK I WOULD NOT FIND OUT?!”

The knight paled, all of the smugness from the tower gone. That was more like it. “I…”

“WORSE, DID YOU THINK I WOULD NOT _CARE_?!”

“It was a mistake!”

Morgana summoned a knife made of shadows. “Finally, something we can agree on!”

“Morgana!”

Morgana whirled around to face Arthur. “This knight—”

“If you seek to regain my favor, sister, you do a poor job!”

Morgana glared at him. “You proclaim chivalry and honor as virtues of your knights and then foster men who have none!”

Arthur unsheathed Excalibur just a little bit. “You would threaten me?”

Morgana looked down and saw the shadow knife still in her hand, pointed at Arthur. She let it go. “If you will not protect the helpless,” she growled, “then I _will_.” She glared at the knight. “And if I hear a whisper of you so much as kicking a dog, I will mount your head on my wall the way the king does a troll. After all, is that not what we in Camelot do to _monsters_?”

She opened a shadow portal, walking through and back into the tower. Merlin was fiddling with his map. “Well, assuming you didn’t break it…” He opened it to show her. It was back to blue. Morgana couldn’t care less. She marched up the stairs, pushing open the door. Amber was playing and singing, her feet tapping to the beat. Douxie was singing along, maybe a bit breathlessly, and Morgana felt some of her anger dissipate, the music sweeping her along.

Amber stopped abruptly. “Your majesty.”

Morgana smiled at the musician. “Just Morgana.” She approached Douxie. “I’m sorry. For everything.”

Douxie shrugged. “’s’okay. Not your fault.”

The words hit Morgana like a sword to the heart. “But it is,” she said quietly, “It is my fault. I was so stupid, Douxie, I agreed to plan that I should not have, and as a result… you got hurt.”

“What’s that, then?” Amber asked sharply.

“I… my old master, he… wanted to do a test, so he sent the knight in—you weren’t supposed to get hurt, Douxie, he wasn’t supposed to lay a hand on you.” Morgana held one hand out. “Please, believe me, I never wanted for you to get hurt. Forgive me.”

Douxie stared at her in shocked silence, and Amber put one hand on his shoulder, giving Morgana a sad, pitying look. “Douxie?”

Douxie let out a deep breath. “Can I… have a minute? Just Arch and I.”

Morgana nodded, leaving the tower with Amber behind her. “I’m sorry,” she said to Amber, “I… I failed him. I shouldn’t have let that man in.”

Amber folded her arms with a glare. “That’s not how you failed him.”

“W-what?”

Amber flung her arms out. “You didn’t fail him by letting the knight hurt him, your—uh, Morgana, you failed him by not being there for him when he did! You didn’t fail him because you didn’t protect him, you failed him by _abandoning_ him when he needed you most!” She started down the stairs, then turned back, her fists clenched. “He was crying, Morgana. And you weren’t there for him. He doesn’t need a defender—he can take care of himself. He needs a comforter. An encourager. Someone to nurture him. And if you can’t be that for him, then—”

“Then what?” Morgana growled, her voice low, “You’ll take him? Where would you go that Arthur would not find you?”

Amber took a step back, her eyes widening. “Are you… threatening me?!”

Morgana floated up into the air. “Hisirdoux is under _my_ protection,” she hissed, “He is _my_ responsibility, _musician_.”

Amber’s jaw clenched. “Your majesty,” she said stiffly with a curtsy and whirled around, marching out the door. Morgana watched her go, a surprising amount of guilt and sadness mixed in with her anger. She floated down the rest of the stairs to where Merlin was waiting.

“If you’re quite done threatening random court musicians, I need to talk to you.”

“Now?”

“Now,” Merlin affirmed, “What happened?”

Morgana crossed her arms. “I went chasing after your knight, and Amber went to comfort Douxie.” Amber had been right. She should have been there.

“Hm.” Merlin tapped the box. “Shortly after, ah, Amber? Yes, after she went up to see him, the timelines flipped back to blue.”

Morgana crossed her arms. “And?”

“The timelines went red shortly after the knight hurt him. They went blue after Amber comforted him.”

“Get to the point, old man.”

“What do you know about him? He’s a spellcaster, but has he shown any particular aptitudes for any kind of powerful magic?”

“No, I—well, he’s shown that he can channel creating elemental magic, but I think that’s something the Order trained him to do.”

Merlin started pacing. “What about lineage?”

“Orphan.”

Merlin frowned. “So. He’s a nobody.”

Morgana glared. “By your standards, yes.”

“Then why,” Merlin asked, “is the fate of the world so dependent on his goodwill towards humanity?”

Xxx

“I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Archie snorted. “Are you only realizing that now?”

Douxie paced back and forth across the room. “I thought—I don’t know, I’m so confused, Arch!”

“You thought that the traitor witch could be trusted,” Archie said simply, “I must admit, I was starting to think the same.”

Douxie sighed, sliding down the wall. “Things were simpler with the order. I still want to help them, but I know they’d want Morgana gone, and I… I don’t want that. And I’m not sure that they’d listen if I told her not to kill him.” He flopped on his back. “And I want to hate Arthur, I _do_ , but he’s just so… sad.”

“No one ever said that freeing magic would be easy.”

Douxie threw his hands up. “But what if we’re doing it the wrong way?! What if killing Arthur and destroying Camelot isn’t the right answer?! Some of the people here are really nice, like Amber! If we go through with what the Order wants, she’d be out of a home, and so many other people would be, too!”

Archie hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe it’s time to renegotiate with them, then. See if they, and Gunmar and Arthur can reach a peace.”

Douxie ran his fingers through his bangs, his hands covering his eyes. “I don’t even know if that’s POSSIBLE,” he groaned, “Why can’t things just be _simple_?! Used to be that our biggest worry was our next meal! Now we’ve got politics, and war, and—and _ethics_ to think about!”

“Oh, the horror,” Archie remarked dryly, “Not ethics!”

“I’m being serious, Arch!” Douxie sighed. “Maybe we should just go. Get out of Camelot. Run off to—to Saxony, or something.”

“Mmm.”

“Aren’t you tired of running?”

Douxie sat bolt upright to see Nari crouched on a stack of books. “Nari! How are you-?”

She giggled. “I am rescuing you! I have destroyed the witch’s magic-preventing barrier. You can do whatever you want.” She looked down at the floor. “If you want to run to Sax-on-ee, you can. But if you want to come back with me…”

Xxx

Merlin watched a group of knights run past him, then realized they were running right towards his tower. He ran and caught the last one by the shoulder as the rest of the group went on without him. “What is the meaning of this?” he demanded.

“A creature’s gotten in—we believe it’s one of the order. And it was headed up towards your tower.”

Merlin’s eyes narrowed as he looked up to the top window, the room where the knights would be headed. Morgana was elsewhere—now was the perfect chance. “Hisirdoux,” he murmured, “I _will_ discover the truth.”


	10. Temporary Hiatus

I realize that it's only been, like, a week and a half since I last updated, but that's a long time for me, and it's not looking like there will be another chapter anytime in the next week, so here's what's going on.

1\. Fan-created Douxie appreciation week is next week. I am currently writing a bunch of ficlets for it. They will be posted on Ao3. They will also be on [my tumblr](https://sergeantsporks.tumblr.com/). So this is on pause until I'm done writing those, but don't freak out, I AM still writing this.

2\. I'm currently trying to make a Tales of Arcadia choose your own adventure/dating sim game (if you're an artist, and you want to help, message on tumblr if you've got one). I'm not abandoning writing to make it, but I am spending some of the time I'd normally be writing on it, so updates will be slow.

Anyway, give it a week, and I'll be updating again, I have plenty of story left in this fic, but it will be a smidgen slower in the update department. Thanks for reading and commenting, y'all are awesome, and I'll see you in a few weeks

**Author's Note:**

> https://sergeantsporks.tumblr.com/


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